King of Thieves
by Chellerbelle
Summary: Sequel to "Queen of Identity Fraud". Marriage and parenthood, Gambit was sure he could handle. It's training to be the next Patriarch of the Thieves Guild and Guild politics that might kill him.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer #1: **Not associated with Marvel... feels redundant saying this on a fanfiction website...

**Disclaimer #2: **I don't condone becoming a career criminal, nor am I involved in crime, whether committing it or investigating it. I just feel the need to throw that out there, hahahaha.

As before there will be references to World of Warcraft, but probably not nearly as many as there were in **Queen of Identity Fraud**. I will clarify anything important for people who aren't familiar with the game as we go along. For those who are, I'm an altaholic and haven't actually played any endgame instances or used Vent, so I apologise in advance for any inaccuracies in that area.

Much thanks to Lizzieturbo for agreeing to beta this story. Your help is greatly appreciated!

This story takes off pretty much right after **Queen of Identify Fraud**.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Jean-Luc looked up from where he sat at the head of the long, mahogany table and smiled as Rogue and Gambit entered the LeBeau's private dining hall. Henri was sitting beside him and Mercy next to Henri. At the other end of the table were his grandsons, Claude and Lucian, who were piling enough food on their plates to feed an army. The morning sun shone through the twin arched windows on one wall.

"I see you made it back last night," Jean-Luc said. "Have a good trip?"

"Oui," Gambit replied as he pulled out the empty chair on Jean-Luc other side. "And I've got things all nicely set up so I can do a few jobs by remote. Now, if a certain department would give me some idea what the scores are..."

Jean-Luc didn't say a word and Mercy chuckled as Rogue took her seat.

"Nice try, Remy," said Henri. "It doesn't matter how popular you may or may not be with the legal department, they're not going to tell you a thing."

"Doesn't hurt to ask," Gambit said as he filled his plate. "Only quatre months left before the final count, less than, even. And after a certain someone decided to steal the Assassins Guild, I feel the need to maximise my jobs as much as possible."

"Who me?" Rogue asked innocently, batting her eyelids.

"Oui you," Gambit replied. "Don't give me that look."

"You're thrilled that your exile is over, and you know it," Mercy said with a smirk.

"Never denied it. In fact, I'm rather proud of Roguey for being able to pull one over the Assassins," Gambit said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not irritated about the timing. If I don't get the Number One position on the Top Ten Thieves this year, I don't get to break the record, and I really want to break that record."

"I want you to break it," said Lucian.

"Me too," added Claude.

"Thank you," Gambit replied, smiling at his teenage nephews.

"There's something I don't quite get though," said Rogue after a sip of her orange juice. "When we first met, you said you only did a few jobs a year."

"Oui, that's right."

"So, if the score I got for posing as Marius Boudreaux so I could sign his life away was ten times the highest score that's ever been given to a single job, then you would have to do eleven jobs minimum in order to beat that."

"Right."

"So..." Rogue said, looking at them with raised eyebrows, "what am I missing?"

"The key is in the definition of 'job'," Henri told her. "Thieves consider a job to be one thing, and the legal department who take care of the scoring and all that jazz, consider a 'job' to be something else. I think they separate things into how they would appear if you were to get arrested and charged or something. Basically Thieves see a job as the whole, and the LDs see the job in pieces."

"Ahh," Rogue replied. "That makes more sense."

"Heh, thought my record was doomed from the start, did you Roguey?" Gambit asked.

"The thought did cross my mind," she said, and opted not to mention that Jean-Luc and Henri had previously expressed the opinion that she would make position three on the top ten list.

Gambit chuckled and dug into his breakfast before it could get any colder. He hadn't wanted the record to be the first topic of discussion this morning, but it was and now he had to find another way to tell his family the good news.

"I'm going to beat the record for youngest person ever to make the top ten," said Claude confidently.

"Oh yeah?" asked Henri. "You have to get your mastery first, boy."

"Oh I will."

"And you have to work very hard, isn't that right, Remy?"

"Absolument," Gambit said. "Alternatively, you can try doing two and three man jobs all by yourself."

"No, really, he can't," Henri said and Gambit grinned wickedly at him. "There's a reason why they're deemed two and three man jobs, Remy."

"Oui, it's to provide me with a challenge to make things interesting."

"So that's how you've managed to stay on top for the last twelve years," Rogue said with a giggle.

"I wouldn't be surprised if your Assassin Guild job score was based off one of mine, chére," Gambit said smugly.

"It wasn't," Jean-Luc replied just as smugly.

"Oh?" Gambit asked as he reached for the last beignet.

"No," Jean-Luc said, the picture of self-satisfaction. "It was based off one of mine."

"You hold the record for highest job score? Really?" Gambit asked with interest.

"You never looked?" Jean-Luc asked as he gathered another mouthful of eggs on his fork.

"Never occurred to me. What did you do?"

"Ha! Like I'm really going to tell you that."

Breakfast continued as it usually did, however before Henri – who was first to finish – could depart, Gambit spoke up:

"Stay a minute, would you Henri? There's something that Rogue and I need to share with everyone."

Henri shrugged, sat back down and looked at his brother curiously. Rogue put down her fork and Gambit took her hand.

"Well," said Gambit, feeling a little nervous all of a sudden. "Roguey and I are... are going to get married."

"Non, we can't have that," joked Henri. "She's a Thief; you're not supposed to make an honest woman out of her."

Rogue laughed. She laughed even harder when Mercy walloped him upside the head.

"Congratulations," said Jean-Luc.

"Yes, congratulations," said Mercy. "I was hoping something might happen, but I have to say, I wasn't expecting anything so soon."

"Ahem, yes well," Gambit said. "Which brings me to the second part of the news... uhh..."

"I'm pregnant," Rogue said, sensing her fiancé was a little nervous about admitting that to his family.

"Heh, got careless did you?" Henri teased Gambit.

"Hey, it was my birthday, my exile had been lifted," Gambit replied with a shrug, although he couldn't completely hide his embarrassment. "We had a lot to celebrate."

"Oh 'celebrating'. So _that's_ what you call it."

"Ahem," Mercy cut in. "Congratulations to both of you."

"Indeed," Jean-Luc said thoughtfully. "Indeed. You would be deux months along then, Rogue?"

"Yeah," Rogue replied.

"And I imagine that neither of you have discussed wedding plans yet?"

"No but I think I'd rather get married sooner than later," Rogue said, and avoided everyone's eyes. "I don't think I really want to be showing in any wedding photos."

"I can understand that," Mercy said pleasantly. "We can just have something small, simple and easy to organise –"

"No," said Jean-Luc firmly.

"No?" Gambit repeated with a raised eyebrow. "It sounds fine to me."

"You forget, mon fils, that since your exile has been lifted, you are now the heir apparent to the N'Orleans Thieves Guild," Jean-Luc said, sounding every part the Patriarch. "Like it or not, there are certain people whom must be invited."

"Right," Henri said, leaning back in his chair and giving Gambit a look of sympathy. "The leaders of the other branches, and probably Bella Donna should be invited as well in her capacity as Matriarch of the Assassins Guild."

"To say nothing of the fact that our Guild at large should be invited," Jean-Luc added.

"Argh," Gambit grumbled, looking down at his plate and picking at his food. "It's way too early in the morning to be dealing with politics."

"Heh," Henri said with a chuckle. "Welcome to our world."

"Non, I refuse to step foot in your world until January next year, after I've gotten my record."

"Oh, I have an easy solution," Rogue said with a slight smirk.

"Eloping is not an option," Henri said quickly. "You haven't met the other leaders before and you need to make as good a first impression as possible."

"Actually, I was going to say that since our wedding has suddenly become a Guild matter," Rogue drawled, "then the Guild can make the plans. Naturally, I would expect to be consulted on details such as dress, colours, music, who's in the bridal party and things like that. But as for food, venues, photography, seating arrangements, blah, blah, blah, knock yourselves out."

Gambit laughed.

"I think that this is definitely a job for Tante Mattie," said Mercy with a decisive nod.

* * *

As Rogue's con artistry class wasn't until the afternoon, she and Gambit tracked down Tante Mattie soon after breakfast. They found her in the parlour doing some cross-stitching.

"Are you going to stand there all day, gawking or do you have something to say to me?" Tante Mattie asked, not even bothering to turn around and look at the pair behind her.

Gambit coughed lightly and with Rogue's hand in his, walked around in front of his mother-figure.

"Tante," he said, trying not to sound as awkward as he felt. "Rogue and I have some news."

"I'm listening," she replied, lifting her head to make eye contact with Gambit.

"We've decided to get married."

Tante Mattie was silent.

"And... Rogue's pregnant."

Still silence.

"And as Rogue doesn't want to be showing in any of the wedding photos and Père thinks we need to do the big wedding thing, we were kind of hoping that maybe you wouldn't mind putting something together?" he asked hopefully.

Without a word, Tante Mattie put her cross-stitching aside and pulled up a small pile of paper on the nearby table. She glanced at the first page and then handed it to Gambit.

"See what you think about that for the menu," Tante Mattie said.

Gambit's fingers curled around the paper in shock. She just _happened_ to have a menu handy? A part of him didn't know why he was so surprised - Tante Mattie always seemed to know everything. Rogue, on the other hand, was not yet used to Tante Mattie's ways and her surprise read plainly on her face.

"Now," Tante Mattie went on as she picked up a pen, "are there any personal friends outside the Guild you'd like to come?"

"Umm, well," Rogue said thoughtfully, sitting down on a nearby chair. "Maybe some of our guild - I mean, Warcraft friends - Wanda, Pietro, Dominic, John, of course, umm..."

"Oh right," Gambit said quickly. "I like that idea. And Stormy."

"Logan," Rogue said, considered, and then went on: "Jubilee too, I think."

"Anyone else, chérie?"

Rogue tapped her fingers on her leg and finally shook her head. "No, well... Actually I think I'll ask Pete."

"So that's eight additional people if they all come," Tante Mattie said. "I need their addresses before lunch time to send the invitations to."

"Ahh, those I have," Gambit said and set aside the proposed menu to pull out his PDA.

Tante Matte handed Gambit a sheet of paper and another pen so he could write them down for her.

"And their names as you'd like them to be addressed," Tante Mattie said firmly. "I'll have the invitations posted by the end of the day. Now, the bridal party. We should have at least three apiece. I assume you want Henri as your Best Man?"

"Oui."

"And?"

"Umm... Rogue what's Jubilee's name? Oh... Emil and Etienne, I guess, if Etienne can come from France again so soon. Theo if he can't."

"Jubilation Lee," Rogue said.

"You're kidding?" Gambit asked.

"No. And Pete is Piotr Rasputin."

"Rogue? Your Maid of Honour?" Tante Matte pressed.

"Oh! Umm, ahh," Rogue said shaking her head. "Jubes - no, Wanda. Jubilee as a bridesmaid if she can come, and umm... Zoe."

"All right. Colours for the bridal party?" Tante Mattie asked.

"Umm, I don't know. Whatever would look good with a red wedding gown, I guess."

"Red?" Gambit inquired with a slight smile on his face.

"I like red better. Besides, the white wedding dress was just a fashion trend started by some Queen of England who got married in it a zillion years ago," Rogue replied.

"Hmm," Gambit said, running his eyes over her and tapping the pen on his mouth. "I'm looking forward to it already."

Rogue laughed.

"Then the sooner we get your gown the better," Tante Mattie said. "That way I can match the right colour. You've got three days, and take Mercy with you; she's got a good eye for these things. Don't miss your classes. Well? What are you still doing here? Get going, fille."

"Oh, right, okay," Rogue stammered. "I'll leave you to it... I... Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," Tante Mattie replied.

Rogue started out of the room, paused and looked back.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"I knew the moment Remy found out you were pregnant he'd do the honourable thing," Tante Mattie replied.

"I never told anyone I was pregnant until I told Remy last night."

Tante Mattie smiled. "Mercy won't have left for the Hall just yet, but you'd better catch her quick."

Rogue realised she wasn't going to get an answer and departed. Gambit gave Tante Mattie both papers and the pen back.

"Menu seems fine to me, Tante," he said, sitting down in the chair Rogue has just vacated.

"You've barely even looked at it."

"But if it's cooked by you, then I know it'll be perfect."

"Mmmhmm. Honeymoon?"

"After the baby's born, I guess," Gambit replied.

"Probably best," Tante Mattie agreed. "Now, when you're not busy working on that record of yours, you need to go back to your house and make sure its ready for your visitors. Obviously, they can't stay on Guild grounds."

"Oh, right, didn't think of that."

"Isn't that why you've asked me to do this in the first place?"

"_I_ would have been happy to have something small, with just the immediate family," Gambit replied.

"I'm sure of that, but these things don't always work out the way we want them to. Now, while we're on the subject, we'll be moving you up to the third floor –"

"Moving? But I only just got my old room back."

"Now really Remy, don't be silly," Tante Mattie said with a wave of her hand. "Aside from the fact that you've only stayed in that room for a week since your exile was lifted two months ago, that room is completely inappropriate for a grown man, whose wife is expecting their first child. Perfect for a boy growing up, yes; newlywed couple, no. Now, there's a perfectly good master bedroom on the third floor –"

"Isn't the third floor supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Jacques LeBeau?"

"What did I just tell you about being silly?"

"Désolé, Tante, but I remember exploring the third floor once and thinking about how it was full of junk. A ghost story would have at least made the place interesting."

"What you call 'junk' are valuable antiques. And for that matter, I happen to know there's a beautiful four poster bed in the master bedroom that I'm sure Rogue will love. After she's picked out her gown, you need to go and pick a mattress. King size."

"I already have a bed back at –"

"The bathrooms up there were modernised a few years ago, so no concerns there. We can prepare one of the smaller bedrooms for the baby after the wedding, though. Now I know you haven't had a chance to move anything from your old place, so when you do, you can move it to the third floor," Tante Mattie was about to go on when she noticed the dejected expressed on Gambit's face. "Remy?"

"That 'old place' has been my home for what? Twenty-one years? I've lived there longer than I've lived here," he said slowly. "I'm not really sure I want to leave."

"Well no one's forcing you to stay here, not even me," she replied gently. "There are some practical advantages to staying here, however. For one thing, the commute is better."

Gambit chuckled.

"It'll also be easier for baby-sitters," Tante Mattie went on, "to say nothing of being able to spend time – real time – with your family again."

"I know, and I want that. I guess I just didn't realise how much would have to change because the exile got lifted. Not that I want to go back to being exiled by any means but... yeah..."

"Things will settle in," Tante Mattie said reassuringly. "Now, you have a lot of work to do over the next three weeks. You need to get your place prepared for visitors, you need to start moving into the third floor – have it all nice and set up so you can spend your wedding night there in lieu of a honeymoon. In fact, let's see... tomorrow you and I will go up there and see what - ahem - 'junk' should be moved out and where it should be moved to. I believe there's a nice sitting room up there where you and Rogue can play your little war game."

"World of Warcraft," Gambit corrected indignantly. "And it's not little. The first 'M' in 'MMORPG' stands for 'Massively'."

"Mind you, if I find you're neglecting your family – any member of your family – because of that little war game, heads will roll. Am I clear?"

"Like I would ever do such a thing," he replied and then added quickly in response to the glare she gave him: "Perfectly clear, Tante."

"Good. Now, I need to get started," Tante Mattie said as she gathered her things. "Oh, and Remy? Congratulations."

* * *

That evening, after all the madness was over for the day, Rogue and Gambit settled down to a game of World of Warcraft with some of their fellow guildies. They were in Gambit's room in the Guild Hall, using his old desk and an spare table they'd swiped from another room. Gambit ruefully admitted to himself that Tante Mattie was right about his bedroom not being appropriate for a newlywed couple.

_"You're getting married?" _asked Wanda.

"Yep," Rogue replied. "And I was hoping, if you could come, if you wouldn't mind being my Maid of Honour?"

_"Me? Seriously?"_

"Yes, seriously," Rogue said with a grin while she went about clearing out her bags in anticipation for their planned trip to 'The Nexus'.

_"Wow, that's... I'd love to," _Wanda replied delightedly.

"Well, I hope you can come then, 'cause the date is in three weeks from now."

_"Three weeks? So soon?"_

"Yeah," Rogue said slyly. "I'd prefer it if I wasn't showing in my wedding photos."

_"Showing?"_ asked Dominic.

_"Ha!" _Wanda said, her smirk clearly audible over the speakers. _"Got yourself pregnant, did you?"_

"Umm, yeah," Rogue replied.

_"Got a little too randy, didja Roguey?"_ John teased her.

"Stop calling me that."

_"Hmm... no."_

_"It's too late, Rogue," _said Pietro. _"He's forever going to call you that now."_

"Anyway, the invites got sent today," said Gambit while he made his avatar run in circles in Origrimmar. "I don't know exactly what day you'll get them but, Wanda, John, Pietro, Dom, you're invited."

_"Aww what about me?"_ asked one of the other people in their guild.

"Désolé, mon ami," Gambit replied good-naturedly. "But we haven't met in real life yet."

_"Aww sad."_

Gambit chuckled and told them what exactly the date would be.

"But of course, you'd need to get here earlier than that," Rogue added.

_"Right, so I can be fitted for my dress," _Wanda said thoughtfully. _"Hey, at least now I don't have to figure out what I'm going to wear. Hey... what _am _I going to wear?"_

"Ha," Rogue said ruefully as she finished up at the Auction House, "I haven't even found _my_ dress yet."

"Only deux more days, chérie," Gambit said while making his avatar jump up and down.

"Shush you. Hmm, I suppose we should probably give Xaviers a call and give Logan and the others a heads up."

"Especially if Jubilee's going to be a bridesmaid."

"Yeah... eh I'll call 'em tomorrow," Rogue said. "Are we going to hit Nex tonight or not?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters," Jubilee said professionally as she answered the phone in the main hall.

"Hi Jubes," said Rogue cheerfully. "How's things?"

"Rogue! Hey! Things have been fine. Well, a little chaotic 'cause the summer's finishing up and we're trying to get ready for the new school year but yeah."

"Oh, right I forgot school would be starting again soon..."

"I wish I could forget," Jubilee joked. "So, how are you? How's Remy?"

"Remy's good, I'm good. Actually, umm... that's what I was calling about. We've decided to get married."

Rogue then pulled the phone away from her ear while Jubilee freaked out.

"And," Rogue went on when she could get a word in, "I was hoping you might agree to be one of my bridesmaids."

"Really? Me? You mean it?" Jubilee asked excitedly.

"Yes, I mean it," Rogue said. "Is Storm there at all?"

"Oh sure. So how did he propose? What does the ring look like? Can –"

"Can you put Storm on please? I promise I'll answer all your questions later, okay?"

"Meh. Fine," Jubilee grumbled. "Hey, Storm! Rogue's on the phone!"

Rogue waited patiently while she was put through to Storm's office. Jubilee waited around excitedly, until Storm became weary of seeing her pace and set her to go get Logan and Pete. Storm and Rogue hung up not long thereafter and Storm waited until the three arrived.

"Well," Storm said slowly, uncertain how to go about this. "I just got a call from Rogue and Remy –"

"Yeah," said Logan. "Jubilee said something about them getting married and being a bridesmaid."

"I'm excited," said Jubilee, bouncing in her seat.

"We can tell," Pete said, smiling.

"As I was saying," Storm said. "They've invited us to the wedding. Just the four of us."

"Just us?" Jubilee asked in surprise. "Oh, I suppose she probably wouldn't be inclined to invite Bobby and Kitty huh?"

"I believe they did come to an understanding after the trouble with the Sentinels," said Pete. "I don't believe it involved the resurrection of their friendship, however."

"Great, just great," said Logan. "I was just getting used to the idea of them dating."

"The wedding is going to be the Saturday before school starts up again," Storm went on. "This means that you'll have to be there a week beforehand if you're going to be a bridesmaid, Jubilee."

"Oh absolutely. Wow, they're sure not wasting any time, huh?"

Logan growled lightly. "She's not... is she?"

"Sorry Logan," said Storm. "Rogue's pregnant."

Jubilee started squealing.

"Well," said Pete slowly. "I'm happy for them."

"Why didn't she tell me when we were on the phone?" Jubilee asked.

"Possibly because of the noise you made when she told you she was getting married in the first place," Storm suggested. "The timing could be better, but at least you'll only be away during the break and not the first week of school."

"Darn, so close," Jubilee joked.

"Obviously I'll need to stay here until the last minute," Storm went on. "If either of you would like to join Jubilee in New Orleans earlier, by all means, otherwise I'll be taking the jet down on the Saturday. Although, judging from the look on your face, Logan, I suspect it might be worth Remy's safety if you and I go together."

"Okay well, that means you have to come with me Pete," Jubilee insisted, grabbing Pete's arm. "I'm gonna need me some company while Rogue's busy doing bride stuff."

* * *

Rogue stepped out of the dressing room and Mercy smiled as she stood back and appraised the burgundy gown. It was strapless with a full, gathered skirt and a loose waistline.

"Now that's lovely," said Mercy while Rogue looked at herself in the mirror.

"Yeah," Rogue said softly. "You were right. It definitely looks a lot better on me than on the hanger."

Mercy chuckled.

"I don't even think it would need adjusting if I started showing either," Rogue said thoughtfully with her hands over her stomach.

"Oui, it's a good cut for that," Mercy agreed. "But I wouldn't worry too much about that, chére. Most women don't start showing until the fourth month."

Rogue blew a lock of white hair out of her face.

"I am so unprepared for this," she said. "I mean... what would I know about being a mother? My birth mother died. My adopted mother abandoned me – and then tried to kill me – and my foster mother turned her back on me. I'm not sure I can even do this, I –"

"Rogue," Mercy said gently, but firmly. "You'll be fine. For one thing, you're not alone. You have Remy, and of course, you have myself and Tante Mattie. Jean-Luc and Henri too, although between you and me, as grandpère and oncle, they are more likely to be bad influences."

Rogue giggled despite herself.

"And if it makes you feel any better," Mercy went on, "I felt the exact same way when I was pregnant with Claude."

"You did?"

"Oui. And there are times with Claude and Lucian that I still think I don't know what I'm doing."

"But they're teenagers now."

"I'm not sure which is harder; when they're young and completely dependant on you, or when they're older and learning to be independent. So," Mercy said. "Is this it, or would you like to keep looking?"

"No," Rogue said, looking back at her reflection. "I think this is it."

* * *

"Huh," Henri said as he walked into the living room of Gambit's house outside of New Orleans. "And here I was thinking the reason why you didn't open the door was because you were absorbed in Warcraft again."

"Nope," Gambit replied from where he was intently studying some papers spread over the table. "I didn't answer the door because you were the only one I was expecting and I knew you'd just let yourself in."

"What's this then? I thought you needed help moving house."

"I got distracted by my latest diabolical evil scheme."

"Oh yeah?" Henri asked, peering at the papers. "What diabolical evil scheme is that?"

Without looking away, Gambit picked up a folder and handed it to him. Henri glanced at the cover page.

"Interesting," Henri said. "Who's helping you?"

"No one," Gambit replied.

Henri blinked, looked at Gambit and then looked back at the folder.

"Oui, I was right," said Henri. "This is a four man job."

"Yep."

"You're not seriously going to try and attempt a four man job _solo_, are you, Remy?"

"Of course I am," Gambit replied seriously. "I've been toying with the idea for years. It's brilliant! I will set a new record for only Thief ever to solo a four-man job, with any luck I'll probably blow Père's score for most points scored on a single job, and I'll guarantee my thirteenth year in the number one Thief spot."

"What is it with you and setting records?" Henri asked in exasperation.

"One word: Exile."

"Your exile is over, Remy."

"I know, and next year I'm going to be stuck behind a desk," Gambit said. "May as well go out with a bang, no?"

Henri let out a long, slow breath.

"Look, Remy," he said patiently. "I see where you're coming from, but there's a reason why this is marked as a four man job."

"I know."

"And that reason is _not_ to provide you with a challenge," Henri said firmly, frowning at him.

"Could have fooled me," Gambit replied blithely, his eyes still on the papers on the table.

"You know, you're setting a bad example for all the –"

"You're not seriously trying that line on me?" Gambit interrupted, his contempt plain.

"Hey," Henri said, mindful of his own two boys, "the younger Thieves look up to you –"

"That's 'cause they're short," Gambit said cheerfully, but uncomfortable about being reminded that he was some kind of 'role model'.

"Very funny. You're also the heir apparent, Remy. You need to set an example. If you pull this off –"

"_When_ I pull this off."

"- they're all going to start thinking they can pull off the four-man jobs solo too. I'm having a hard enough time convincing Claude he shouldn't go straight for the two-man jobs right after getting his Mastery," Henri said in exasperation.

"So tell him the truth," Gambit said. "Tell him their oncle waited until he'd spent twelve years as the Guild's number one thief first."

Henri cracked a smile despite himself. "What makes you think you even have a chance, Remy? Not even you can be in four places at once."

"I know. That's why I'm going to get the mark to do half the work for me."

"How on earth are you going to manage _that_?"

Gambit grinned at him and his eyes glowed with mischief.

"Well first," Gambit said gleefully, "I'm going to hit the security guards where it hurts the most."

"Oh yeah? Where's that?"

"Their pay."

Henri looked at Gambit thoughtfully. "Oh this is going to be good. Pray, continue."

"I'm just fiddling with the Payroll Manager's accounts. According to his records, the security guards are going to be paid on time, but paid too much. However, the money is going to go to my accounts, not the guards. They're going to get angry because they're not getting paid, Payroll and other management are going to fuss because the records say they've been overpaid, and both sides are going to get angry. The guards may decide not to feel obligated to show up to work when they're not being paid and in the midst of all the chaos, I'll just waltz in, take the prize and waltz back out again. Not only do I get the prize, but I also get a lovely bonus of a couple of months worth of overpaid security guard wages for about a dozen different guards."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Henri said with a pained expression on his face, "but I can't wait to see you pull this off."

Gambit laughed.

"I can see how a lot of things can go wrong in this though, Remy," Henri went on. "What if management – or security – don't react the way you expect them to?"

"That's what makes it fun," Gambit said, straightening up. "Anyway, I suppose we should get started."

"Right," Henri agreed. "What's going?"

"Not too much. Most of what I've got here's going to stay here. As much as I'd love to take the pool table with me, there's already one at the mansion so..."

"Heh, yeah."

"Anyway, Roguey packed up a lot of her stuff, which would be those boxes over there."

"By 'stuff', do you mean that teddy bear collection of hers?" Henri asked mischievously.

"That may account for some of the boxes," Gambit replied with dignity.

Henri snickered.

"I'm still packing my things, but I'm sticking to the basics," Gambit went on. "As for furniture, that display cabinet is going, my gaming chair is going and the pinball machine is going."

"Yes!" Henri cheered, throwing his arms up in their air.

"Hey, just 'cause the pinball machine is going to be at the mansion now, does not automatically mean you can play it whenever you want."

Henri chuckled wickedly.

* * *

"All right," Theoren said to the class. "Congratulations everyone, you've officially finished this course."

Rogue chuckled as her fellow classmates cheered. Most of them were teenagers, but there were a few her age.

"As per usual," Theoren went on, "course credits will only count _after_ you've successfully completed a con artistry job. You know where the job listings are. If you decide to do your own con, make sure you register it with the LD or it won't count. All right now, get out of here."

Everyone packed up with much enthusiasm. As Rogue headed towards the door, Theoren signalled her over. He waited until everyone had left.

"Just so you know," he said. "Your course credits have automatically been counted, on account of the job you did for Bella Donna."

"Oh... they have?" Rogue asked.

"Oui. We consider it a con job, and because you did it while you were doing a con artistry course..." Theoren said and shrugged. "We don't normally do that, but we considered it 'con of the century' kind of material."

"That's not going to follow me around, is it? Not that I regret doing it by any means, but –"

"No, no. This is a once off. You're going to have to earn your rank just like everyone else."

"Good to know."

* * *

"Etienne's coming," said Jean-Luc, meeting in his office at the Guild Hall with his sons. "He'll arrive tomorrow with Philippe Dubois. Most of the other global branches can't make it; too short notice."

Jean-Luc sat behind his desk while Henri and Gambit sat in two chair in front. Jean-Luc pretended not to notice Gambit's legs up on the desk.

"And we all know whose fault that is," Henri put in with a grin at Gambit.

"Roguey's of course," Gambit said with a slight smile. "Female vanity at work."

"Nah, it's never the femmes fault. You will soon learn this, mon frère," Henri said sagely.

"Ahem," Jean-Luc cut in. "Giuseppe Moretti can't make it, but Viviana can."

All colour drained from Gambit's face.

"Viviana?" he repeated. "Didn't we make a rule about not inviting ex's to the wedding?"

"Ha! If we did that, half the femmes in the Guild would have to stay home," Henri declared, grinning broadly, "to say nothing of Bella Donna."

"Remy, Viviana is the heir apparent to the Italy Thieves Guild –" Jean-Luc said.

"Don't remind me," Gambit muttered.

"Sooner or later you're both going to be the heads of your respective Guilds."

"I said 'don't remind me'."

"You're just going to have to learn to get along."

"Tell that to Viviana," Gambit replied. "I swear, if she gives Rogue a hard time, I'm –"

"Going to respond in a polite, civilised manner," Jean-Luc said firmly.

"Do I have to?"

"This is great," said Henri gleefully. "I can see I'm going to _love_ watching you play Patriarch, Remy."

"Hmph. This is all your fault anyway."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, if you had just applied yourself, you would have been the better thief, and I could have stayed in the field where I belong," Gambit said with a wink.

Henri laughed. Jean-Luc shook his head and sighed.

"There are two Master Thieves from the Sydney Thieves Guild who are currently vacationing in Florida – their words, not mine," Jean-Luc said with a slight smirk. "They'll be here a couple of days in advance of the wedding to represent their Guild."

"Do we know them?" asked Henri.

Jean-Luc glanced at his notes. "Meg and Toby Brown."

"Doesn't ring a bell..."

"Oh I know them," said Gambit. "We were introduced last time I went to Australia."

"Well at least they're not going to be complete strangers." said Henri.

"And the Thieves Guild of Tokyo have requested that Zoe Ishihara act as their representative," Jean-Luc said.

"Oh really?" asked Henri. "I thought she got excommunicated after she stopped them from exploiting her brother."

"Oui, that's what I thought too," Jean-Luc said with a smirk. "And Zoe as well for that matter. Seems they found a reason to reinitialise contact, no?"

"Yeah, too lazy to send someone all the way from Japan," Gambit said with a snort.

"Actually," said Henri, "I think it's more likely that they found out that Zoe was to be one of Rogue's bridesmaids."

"So?"

"That would imply that they're close friends."

"Maybe that's because they _are_ friends."

"Right, their formally excommunicated member is friends with the bride of the future Patriarch of the N'Orleans Thieves Guild," Henri said. "They probably think it's in their best interests to patch up that particular bridge."

Gambit was silent for a good long moment.

"I hate politics," he said finally.

* * *

"Well, well, well," said Etienne the next day as he walked through the door and his eyes fell on Gambit. "Never would have believed it possible: You getting married."

"Har har," Gambit said with a smirk. "It's good to see you too. Glad you could make it."

"Make it?" Etienne repeated. "Remy, until I see this through with my own two eyes..."

Gambit laughed and Etienne grinned at him.

"You remember Philippe, of course," Etienne said, gesturing to the young man next to him.

"Oui," Gambit replied and held out his hand to him. "A pleasure to meet you again."

"And you," Philippe replied. "Congratulations."

"Merci."

"Oh right," said Etienne. "Congratulations. Hey is Rogue here?"

"Oui," Gambit replied and gestured towards the living room. "She's just discussing plans with Tante Mattie and Mercy."

"Excellent," said Etienne and took it upon himself to lead the way inside the living room. "All hail Rogue!"

Rogue blinked in surprise and jerked away from the conversation at hand when Etienne got down on the floor in front of her and bowed on hands and knees.

"Oookay..." she said.

"Oh blessed supreme goddess of all things impossible," said Etienne. "This thief, poor wretch that I am, humbly offers you this gift of worship."

Rogue laughed. "I like him."

"Your humble servant thanks you for this wonderful blessing you have laid upon him."

"You were planning this the whole flight over, weren't you?" Gambit asked, shaking his head in amusement.

"Non," said Philippe. "He was planning this from the moment he got the news."

"It's true," Etienne said with a grin as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Although I really think you must have me mixed up with someone else," said Rogue. "I think that if anyone qualifies as the 'supreme goddess of all things impossible' it's Tante Mattie."

"I'm no goddess, child," said Tante Mattie. "Well? Isn't anyone going to introduce Philippe?"

"Oh right," said Gambit. "Philippe, this is my fiancée Rogue. Rogue, this is Philippe Dubois of the Paris Thieves Guild."

"Enchanté mademoiselle," Philippe said, taking her hand and kissing it.

"A pleasure to meet you," Rogue replied.

"Philippe is the heir apparent of said Guild," Gambit went on with a wink. "Which means we have to pretend to be friends."

Philippe laughed.

"Pretend?" Rogue inquired jokingly. "You mean we can't be friends for real?"

"What? Actually have a genuine friendship with our contemporaries?" Gambit asked. "What a shocking concept."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **

Viviana is an OC who knows Italian, Spanish and French. At best she only knows a few words in English so for the duration of this story she'll be speaking in French unless otherwise noted (as the LeBeaus also know French). Of course, this has the unfortunate side-effect of transcribing whole conversations a little difficult, mostly because my French is limited to internet translators. Then too, you guys actually have to read it and I imagine it might get a little messy.

To this end, anything written in square brackets will be the English translation of something said in French:

["Like this."]

It was the least messy way I could think of to express that what's being said is in another language.

Also, there is a discussion about the various races of WoW in this chapter. For those unfamiliar with WoW or haven't read **Queen of Identity Fraud** recently, the playable races in WoW are divided into two factions: The Alliance and the Horde. Generally speaking, people who love playing Horde are rather disparaging of the Alliance (and Allys accuse the Horde of being 'ugly'). Personally, I like them both. These two factions can't communicate with each other in game, but they can kick each other's butts.

'Vent' is short for 'Ventrillo' which is a program often used by people who play WoW to communicate verbally with each other.

Philippe is also an OC.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Umm, Pietro," said Wanda as she looked through the front window of their van at the mansion before them. "Are we sure this is the place?"

"This is the address Remy gave me," Pietro replied.

"I'll call!" John offered helpfully, already dialling on his phone. "Pick up... pick up... Hi Randy Roguey! ... No, I'm not going to stop calling you that. Hey do you live in a big place with a big fancy gate and a fence that's just begging ne'er-do-well's to graffiti it? ... All right, thanks mate."

Wanda and Pietro started as the gates began to open.

"I'm guessing this is the place then," said Wanda.

"Forward march!" John declared. "Onward to greater glory!"

Not long thereafter, their van pulled up outside the front door and Rogue and Gambit came out to greet them.

"Hey," Rogue said. "We were beginning to think you'd gotten lost or something."

"We thought we _had_," said Wanda. "This place is huge. Oh, but it's good to see you, Anna."

"Good to see you too," Rogue replied, giving her a hug. "I'm glad you could make it. And if you think this place is big, you should see the -"

"Ahem," Gambit cut in before she could say 'Guild Hall' and give them all ideas. "Dinner's all ready. I... Did you guys bring your computers?"

"Of course," Dominic said as he helped John and Pietro unload. "You didn't expect us to go without playing WoW for a whole week, did you?"

"Hmm, good point."

"WoW party!" John yelled.

"Well, that sure explains why you drove all this way instead of flying," Rogue said, bemused. "By the way, Jubilee and Pete will be coming down tomorrow."

"Good stuff," said John. "It feels like months since we last saw them... oh wait. Any other X-men coming?"

"Just Storm and Logan on the day of the wedding," Rogue replied.

"Bobby and Kitty declined? Or you didn't invite them in the first place?"

"Didn't invite them in the first place. C'mon, let's get inside."

Evidentially everyone thought this was a good plan, because their four guests and their things were soon inside. They were shown to their rooms and they sat down for dinner.

"And tomorrow," Rogue said as she cut up her steak, "after Jubes and Pete get here, you me, Jubes and Zoe are going to go for the bridesmaid dresses."

"Goody," Wanda said. "So, what am I wearing, do you know yet?"

"Champagne, I'm told," Rogue replied.

"Hmm, Wanda wearing nothing but an alcoholic beverage..." John said, waggling his eyebrows.

"I could have done without that visual!" Pietro objected as he reached for the pepper.

"Idiots," Wanda said. "Champagne, interesting."

"Okay," said Dominic, who had paused in the middle of taking a bite, "what colour is champagne?"

"It's like a dull sort of goldish colour," Rogue said.

"Why can't you just say 'gold' then? Why do people have to invent all these names for colours that all look the same anyway?"

"Because it's not gold, it's champagne."

"Ignore him," said Wanda as John discreetly moved his vegetables to her plate. "Dom thinks that mauve and violet are the same colour."

"They're both purple!" Dominic insisted.

"See?"

"I don't know how you put up with him," Rogue said with a wink.

Wanda chuckled.

"So, do Pete and Jubes play WoW at all?" asked John.

"I have no idea," Rogue said.

"We'll just have to edumacate them," John declared as Wanda moved his vegetables back onto his plate.

"Edumacate?" Rogue repeated, amused.

"I like to mangle words. So sue me."

"You're the writer."

"Speaking of WoW," said Gambit. "How about after dinner we set things up and raid something?"

"I like this plan," Pietro replied.

* * *

The following morning, Rogue waited at the airport for Jubilee and Pete to get off their plane. Just as she was beginning to wonder if she was at the right terminal, the pair came through the door. Jubilee immediately gave Rogue a huge hug and Pete grinned as he watched Rogue get the full serving of Jubilee's excitement.

"Did ya'll have a good flight?" Rogue asked as they headed outside.

"Da," said Pete.

"It was a flight," Jubilee replied with a shrug. "Blackbird's better."

"You get that," Rogue replied, smiling.

She led them to Gambit's pickup truck and they got inside; there was just enough room for the three of them to fit comfortably.

"Usually we ride motorcycles," Rogue explained.

"Heh," Jubilee said. "I suspect you're going to have to invest in a family car, Rogue."

"Probably."

"Eeeee, I can't believe you're having a baby! I want one."

"Gonna have to get yourself a man first, Jubes," Rogue teased her.

"I'm working on it," Jubilee replied with a grin.

"Oh, by the way, do either of you play WoW?"

"Play what?" asked Jubilee.

"No," Pete said.

"Well, I should warn you that you're going to be staying with John and his friends, Wanda, Pietro and Dominic, and they - as well as Remy and I - are all big fans of World of Warcraft," Rogue said. "It's likely they will attempt to corrupt you. It's too late for me; Remy got me addicted last year."

Jubilee giggled.

"It's hard to get into computer games when you have the danger room," said Pete.

"Yeah, I can see why that might be," Rogue replied.

They chatted all the way. Once they arrived, Jubilee and Pete were just as impressed as Wanda and the boys had been at Gambit's place, despite living in a mansion themselves; it was more that they didn't expect a couple of thieves to live in a place quite that impressive. Once inside, Rogue introduced everyone.

"Right, so," said Wanda, rubbing her hands together, "bridesmaids gowns now?"

"Yep," Rogue replied with a grin. "Oh, unless you wanted to see your room first, Jubes?"

"Let's see... bedroom or bridesmaid gown," Jubilee said. "Gee, that's a hard question."

Wanda laughed.

"Okay, well, let's get going then," Rogue said. "See you round, boys."

* * *

Gambit walked down the main hallway in the Guild Hall and entered the foyer just in time to see a familiar face and her collection of bags.

["Darling!"] the black-haired woman exclaimed.

Before Gambit had a chance to react, the short, full-figured woman in her high-heeled shoes had wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips against his in a brief, if forceful, kiss.

["I have missed you,"] she informed him and then promptly slapped him across the face. ["And don't pretend you didn't deserve that."]

["Why not, darling?"] Gambit inquired with a tilt of his head. ["Were you planning on hitting me again if I did?"]

["Naughty boy. And yes."]

["Now, now, Vivi, I'm an engaged man."]

["Engaged, but not yet married. There's still time. And don't call me 'Vivi'."]

["Now who's being naughty?"]

["Well, that goes without saying,"] Viviana replied saucily. ["What are you getting married for anyway? I thought you were going to play the bachelor for the rest of your life."]

["Sometimes things don't always go to plan."]

["I hate it when that happens."]

["Sometimes it works out better."]

"Hmm," Viviana said, running a long fingernail down his chest. ["Not this time."]

["Maybe not for you,"] Gambit replied and then added slyly: ["Little one."]

Viviana slapped him again.

["Don't call me that either,"] she said.

Gambit just laughed at her.

* * *

While Wanda, John, Pietro and Dominic were engaged in their game of World of Warcraft, and Rogue and Gambit were busy with Guild and wedding preparations, Jubilee and Pete were at something of a loose end. To pass the time, they located the Billiards room and decided to play a game.

Jubilee picked up one of the cues from where they were stored against the wall and Pete opened up the nearby cupboard where he assumed the balls would be kept. He was correct and as he pulled out the box, his eyes fell on another box right beside them. He froze momentarily, but continued putting out the balls.

"What?" Jubilee asked, noting the embarrassed expression on his face.

"Oh, it's umm, nothing," Pete replied.

This was the worst thing to say to Jubilee, of course, and she immediately walked over to take a look herself.

"Condoms? Is that all?" Jubilee asked, paused and then frowned slightly. "Why would there be condoms in the Billiards room?"

Jubilee and Pete looked at each other, then at the pool table, then back at each other.

"Oh second thoughts," Jubilee said quickly, backing away carefully. "Maybe we should go see what this Warcraft game is like."

"Da, I think that's a very good idea," Pete agreed and quickly shoved the balls back into the cupboard.

* * *

"I can't believe you've talked me into this," Jubilee said as she looked at the character creation screen of World of Warcraft. "Rogue warned me this might happen."

"That she did," Pete said, looking at a similar screen on another computer.

Despite everything, the two X-men had been talked into creating trial accounts.

"Okay, what race?" Jubilee mused. "Aww! The Gnomes are cute."

"Boo! Alliance scum," John declared. "And the Gnomes are a joke."

"Oh but they're so little and - oooh! Pink hair!" Jubilee said as she flipped through the options.

"No, I forbid it," John said. "You have to pick a real race, not a rodent."

Jubilee stuck out her tongue and blew raspberries at him.

"That's right," said Wanda helpfully. "Friends don't let friends play Gnomes."

Pete chuckled.

"What are you looking at, Pete-o?" asked John. "And if you say 'Gnome' I may cry."

"Actually, I thought that the Draenei looked interesting," Pete replied.

"What is it with you two and Alliance?" John asked in exasperation. "Horde rules, Alliance drools."

"Oh let them play their little Alliance," Dominic said. "Once they've succeeded in corrupting their friends and the X-men have their own guild, we can have guild vs guild PvP wars."

"Oooh I like this plan!" John said. "I'm looking forward to frying Bobby's pansy arse already."

"Hey, this is just a trial," Jubilee pointed out. "There's no rule that says once we've played we'll automatically become addicted, thank you very much. Oooh the Night Elves are smexy."

"Hey, if you like elves so much," John said, taking the mouse, "Blood Elves. They're Horde, so that automatically makes them way cooler."

"But they look all pasty and yuck," Jubilee objected. "Dwarves are cute too. Not as cute as the little Gnomies -"

"Gnomies?" John said, turning up his face in disgust. "_Gnomies? _I can see that I was right in leaving the X-men, that's for sure."

"And the Blood Elves are not 'pasty and yuck'," Wanda said firmly. "Although I guess I can't really expect any kind of taste from someone who thinks gnomes are 'cute'."

"But they are!" Jubilee insisted.

"Or maybe I'll play a human," Pete considered aloud.

"Why?" asked Dominic. "We can be human any time."

"No we can't," Pietro replied. "We're mutants."

"Baseline human or mutated human," Pete said. "We're still human either way."

"I think you guys raise a good point," Wanda said. "They should introduce mutants."

"And they need to be Horde," John said.

"Why limit them to one race?" asked Pietro. "They should create mutated versions of all the races."

"They have," said Dominic. "They're called 'undead'."

"I object," said Wanda. "I don't look a thing like the Forsaken and my lower jaw is completely intact."

"What about the Lost Ones?" asked John. "They're kinda like Draenei mutants. Or is that the Broken?"

"The Broken are devolved Draenei, and the Lost Ones are devolved Broken," said Wanda.

"I think it's good that they don't bring in mutants per say," said Dominic. "Aside from balance issues, everyone in this game has some sort of power and the different races have different racial abilities. I think it's a little redundant."

"Could be right there," Wanda said.

"Aww, take all the fun out of it," said John.

"Okay, I think..." Jubilee said thoughtfully. "I'm going to make a Gnome mage."

"My Tauren is going to eat your Gnome for a midnight snack," Pietro said.

"Would you stop picking on the Gnomes?" Jubilee asked as the door opened.

"What's this about Gnomes?" Rogue inquired as she stepped inside.

"Jubes thinks the 'Gnomies' are 'cute' and has decided she's going to play one," John said in obvious disgust.

"I told you not to let them talk you into playing, Jubes," Rogue said. "Oh... Pete, not you too?"

"We were watching them play," said Pete. "It looked interesting."

"You're both doomed."

"Damn straight they are," said John. "They both like Alliance races. I feel dirty just being in the same room with them."

"I still say we let them corrupt the rest of the X-men, start their own guild on the Alliance side and crush them like the scum they are," said Dominic. "Erm, I mean, co-ordinate our guilds for PvP wars."

Rogue laughed.

* * *

The last few days leading up to the wedding went by very quickly, and before Rogue knew it, it was Friday night, and she was at her bachelorette party. Likewise, Gambit was across town with his friends, walking from the car park to the casino where they were holding his bachelor party.

"What, no strippers?" asked Gambit. "Worst bachelor party ever."

"But we have poker," Henri pointed out.

"Yeah but... it's like tradition or something."

"It's also a tradition for married men who go to bachelor parties to make up stories to their wives about how there were no strippers," Emil said. "We figured we'd just cut out the lying part this time."

"Yeah," said Theoren. "The truth'll throw them off and for once we'll have the upper hand."

"I've never played poker before," said John.

"You're friends with Remy and you've never played?" asked Etienne, pointing his thumb at Gambit.

"Usually we play WoW," said Dominic.

"Oh right," said Henri. "You're his World of Warcraft friends."

Gambit grinned.

"I tried that once," said Toby. "I got bored."

Gambit, John, Dominic and Pietro stared at the Australian Thief.

"Is that even possible?" wondered Pietro.

"You thought WoW was boring?" John asked. "I disown you as my countryman!"

Toby laughed at him.

"Okay," said Etienne. "I've never played. And I've just realised that might have been a bad thing to admit. So, who's for poker?"

"Moi," said Philippe.

"Onwards!" Etienne declared, pointed towards the casino and quickly led the way inside before he could be talked into trying out World of Warcraft sometime.

* * *

The next morning, Storm and Logan arrived at Gambit's place outside of New Orleans.

"Huh," she said. "It's certainly a lot smaller than I remember. But then, I suppose I was only twelve."

They were let inside. Rogue, Wanda, Jubilee and Zoe were getting their hair and make up done before changing into their gowns, and Pete, Pietro, Dominic and John were killing time on the computer.

"John," Storm said pleasantly. "It's been awhile."

"Yep," John replied, briefly glancing up from his screen. "Hope everyone's doing okay. Whoops, 'cuse me, got mobs to kill."

"This is actually a fun game," Pete told Storm. "I am thinking I might subscribe when we get back to the mansion."

"I see."

"Just make sure you don't start comparing battle situations to things that happen in the game, Tin Man," Logan said sternly, "or I'll work you in the danger room so hard you'll wish you'd never heard of the silly game."

"Who would do that?" Pete asked, looking confused.

"Me," said Pietro.

"I did," said Dominic.

"Hey you know that time we rescued you from the Sentinels? All the way through," John added gleefully. "I was rather fond of Wanda's joke about Silencing."

"Yeah, that was a good one," said Pietro.

"You were saying?" Logan asked Pete.

"Now I know," Pete replied.

Logan and Storm made themselves at home on the lounge. Storm leaned back in her seat and frowned as her eyes fell on something underneath the coffee table. Curiosity got the better of her and she reach in underneath to see what it was.

"Huh," she said and put it back again.

Logan stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "You find a box of condoms in the living room and all you can say is 'huh'?"

"That's nothing," John piped up. "We've been finding them everywhere. The kitchen, the dining room, the Billiards room -"

"Knew about that one," Logan muttered.

"All the bedrooms," John went on. "All the bathrooms. The garage. The pool house. The laundry -"

"You've actually been in the laundry?" Dominic asked.

"Sure," John said cheerfully. "After the first half a dozen boxes, it became like a scavenger hunt. It's in between the detergent and the fabric softener, in case you were wondering. The only place I haven't been able to check is that locked room Remy told us about. Now, I know he said we shouldn't try to get in there unless we want to become accomplices to about twenty years worth of crimes, but I think it's really their secret sex chamber."

"If it's the room I think you're talking about," said Logan, "I've become an accomplice to twenty years worth of crimes. Storm, you never should have let her leave Xaviers."

"Perhaps _you_ never should have left Xaviers," Storm replied tolerantly.

"How are you unphased by this?"

"I have known Remy a very long time, Logan. Quite frankly I am more surprised Rogue even got pregnant. He must really love her to throw caution to the wind like that."

* * *

Back at the Guild Hall, Gambit was looking at his reflection in the mirror. Like his groomsmen, he was wearing a black suit, but his shirt was red rather than the shade of gold the girls insisted on calling "champagne".

"I never would have believed it," said Henri, slinging his arm across Gambit's shoulders. "You actually clean up nice, mon frère."

Instead of the snappy retort Henri was expecting, however, Gambit instead replied with: "Am I doing the right thing?"

"Cold feet, huh?" Henri asked, not bothering to hide his slight smile.

"I guess. I mean, I love Rogue, I just… I just don't know…"

There was silence for a moment.

"Well, that's normal," Henri said. "Plus everything did happen rather quickly."

"Yeah."

"Why'd you propose?"

Gambit cracked a smile. "'Cause I thought it was the right thing."

"Has that changed in the past three weeks?"

Gambit shrugged and shook his head helplessly. Henri patted him on the shoulder.

"Look, Remy, this isn't... there's no tactful way of saying this," Henri said seriously. "The fact of the matter is that today you're going to make a decision: You're either going to marry Rogue or you're not going to marry Rogue, and both decisions have their own, unique set of consequences."

"I know."

"I can't tell you what marriage to Rogue'll be like. I can tell you that for all the fights Mercy and I have had, I wouldn't stop being married to her for all the world. I love her and I love my boys and I wouldn't change a thing."

Gambit smiled.

"I can also tell you what will happen if you don't go through with it," Henri went on. "Tante Mattie will be pissed, for one thing. Now if that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will."

Gambit managed a low chuckle.

"Père will be angry, and I don't even want to think how Rogue'll react to being left at the alter," Henri said. "Especially as she's pregnant, so you have the hormones to deal with. And it's your child she's carrying, Remy. Marriage or not, you won't be able to escape that responsibility."

Gambit nodded. "I know, I just... I know."

"Like I said, cold feet is normal," Henri said. "And quite frankly, I kind of expected you to freak out sooner or later. You've been acting the playboy half your life."

"It's fun being a playboy though."

"I think that's the whole point. But there's nothing wrong with moving on, getting married, having kids. Sure it's hard work, but it can be just as fun, just in different ways."

"How would you know that?" Gambit asked, nudging Henri in the ribs. "You've never been a playboy at all."

"That's 'cause I got lucky and met the woman of my dreams early. And Rogue? I'm pretty sure she's the woman of your dreams, Remy," Henri said seriously. "I've seen the way you look at her. Look, it's your decision, one way or another, and I can't make it for you, but in my opinion, I think you're crazy if you don't."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Gambit wished that his heart would stop pounding so loudly. He was quite certain that everyone in the church could hear how nervous he was. He kept his hands tightly clasped behind his back, where his palms were busy getting sweaty.

The church was slowly but surely filling up with people. Most of them were fellow members of the New Orleans Thieves Guild. Their guests from the other Guilds sat in the second row, with Bella Donna and her daughter Avril on the far side. Storm and Logan sat with Pete, John, Dominic and Pietro in the front row on 'the brides side' while Jean-Luc, Tante Mattie, Mercy, Claude and Lucian sat on the front row on 'the grooms side'.

Storm gave Gambit a small wave and he smiled back at her. His eyed then fell on Logan and he knew the moment their eyes met that Logan – if no one else – definitely knew how nervous he was. Logan seemed to enjoy smirking at him. Gambit just cocked an eyebrow in reply.

At last all the guests had arrived and were settled, and the wait for the bride began. The longer the time dragged out, the edgier Gambit got. Rogue was going to show up... right? His eyes kept glancing at the clock, watching as the minute hand continued on its march further and further away from the time the ceremony was supposed to start. She was just being fashionably late... right?

At ten minutes past four, Tante Mattie got up and made her way to the back room of the church where Rogue and her bridesmaids were supposed to be. They were there all right, with Rogue sitting on the bathroom floor looking miserable. The smell of vomit was in the air.

"I see," Tante Mattie said.

"We're debating whether it's morning sickness or nerves," said Zoe. "Or both."

"I didn't know you could get morning sickness in the afternoon," Jubilee said. "I learned something."

Wanda stifled the urge to laugh.

Tante Mattie nodded and knelt down beside Rogue, putting her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Rogue said, sounding as miserable as she looked, with tears staining her face.

"It's quite all right, childe," she said. "Feeling better at all?"

Rogue was about to reply that she felt like crap, but strangely enough, she _did_ feel better.

"Y-yes, I do, actually," Rogue said.

"Bon," Tante Mattie replied. "Take a few more minutes to get cleaned up, and I'll just let Remy know you won't be long."

Rogue nodded. Tante Mattie helped her to stand.

"I've got this," said Wanda, creating a pair of hex bolts. "Clean gown and fresh make up coming right up."

"Oh, and I've got breath mints," said Zoe.

Tante Mattie chuckled to herself as she made her way back out. She hid her smile as she approached Gambit, who was doing rather well at hiding just how anxious he was.

"She's on her way," she assured him.

Gambit nodded. "Merci."

Henri leaned over to Gambit as Tante Mattie took her seat, and held his finger and thumb an inch apart.

"You were this close," Henri teased Gambit.

"Shut up," Gambit said.

Henri chuckled and Gambit cracked a grin despite himself.

Soon enough the music began to play. Zoe was the first down the aisle, followed by Jubilee and then Wanda. Finally, Rogue stepped through the doorway and Gambit caught his breath at the sight of his beautiful bride. Rogue smiled at him as she caught his eyes and before he knew it, she was standing beside him and holding his hand.

"We are gathered here today..." began the priest, and continued until: "If anyone can show just cause why they should not be married, let them speak now, or forever hold their peace."

"Me! I object!" John said.

"Uh, what?" Rogue stammered as she and everyone turned to look at him.

"Actually, I don't really," said John. "I just always wanted to do that."

"You are so in for it later, Pyro," Wanda said darkly.

"Oh goody."

"Ahem, if there are no _real_ objections," the priest said and after a momentary pause, went on: "Remy Etienne LeBeau, do you take Anna for your lawful wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?"

Gambit took a deep breath.

"I do," he said, hoping he sounded calmer than he felt.

"And do you Anna Marie Raven, take Remy for your lawful wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Rogue replied.

Was it Gambit's imagination, or did Rogue's voice sound a little ragged? Somehow the idea that she might be just as nervous as he was made him feel a lot better.

The ceremony continued. They exchanged their vows and Henri produced the rings.

"... I pronounce that they are now husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Gambit wrapped Rogue up in his arms and as her own arms went about his neck, he kissed her passionately, surprised with a fresh minty taste. The room applauded.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr and Mrs Remy and Anna LeBeau."

The music began to play once more and the newlywed couple walked to the table at the side to sign the register, and get their photos taken signing the register.

* * *

Many photos later, Rogue, Gambit and their numerous guests finally made it to the reception hall. Everyone took their seats and the entrees were served. The room was alive with chatter.

"Avril," Bella Donna said patiently from where she sat next to Tante Mattie. "Stop texting and put the phone away."

"But Maman," Avril complained. "This is so booorrring."

"That's no excuse for bad manners."

"Yeah," Lucian agreed from across the table.

"Shut your face, LeBeau," Avril snapped at him. "No one asked you."

Bella Donna sighed and caught Mercy's eyes as their respective teenagers fell to meaningless arguing.

"So, Belle," said Mercy. "It's been awhile since anyone tried to arrange any Boudreaux/LeBeau marriages..."

Avril and Lucian promptly shut up.

Viviana sauntered over to the bridal table.

["Congratulations,"] she said to Gambit and her eyes met Rogue's. ["Ahh, now I don't believe we've been officially introduced yet."]

["There's a reason for that, Vivi,"] Gambit replied and turned to Rogue. "Rogue, this is Viviana Moretti of the Italy Thieves Guild. It's the only Thieves Guild that isn't stationed in one place. The Cosa Nostra gives them too much trouble to risk settling."

"Who's the Cosa Nostra?" Rogue asked.

"That would be the name the Mafia gives themselves."

"Should I be hearing this?" asked Wanda, who was sitting right next to Rogue.

"That's all I was going to say about the matter, but you can always swap places with Zoe," Gambit replied with a grin at Wanda. "Vivi doesn't speak English, which is why she's currently giving me a dirty look."

"Oh, I see," Rogue replied. "Well, I could speak French if I pulled out your psyche..."

"Nah, it's more fun this way," Gambit replied. ["Vivi, this is Rogue. She doesn't know French, or Spanish, or even Italian, so I get to play translator, isn't that fun?"]

["Oh really?"] Viviana asked with a sly smile, and then said pleasantly to Rogue: ["I don't like you, and in fact, I think you're rather hideous."]

"On the other hand," Gambit muttered. ["That was completely uncalled for, and I'd prefer it if you didn't insult my wife - in any language."]

["I'd prefer it if you didn't _have_ a wife."]

"Rogue?" Henri said, looking past Gambit to catch her eyes. "We're going to have to teach you French."

Rogue laughed.

"I've been under that impression myself," she said. "I've learned a few words since I met Remy though. Remy? You might want to tell our guest - and we'll just pretend I don't know she's said something insulting to me - that the mains are about to be served and she might want to go sit down and annoy someone else."

Gambit chuckled. ["They're about to serve the main course, darling. Maybe if you run back to your chair you can work off those calories before you put them on."]

Viviana slapped him but couldn't wipe the grin from his face. As she stalked off, Henri whacked Gambit upside the head.

"What part of 'polite' and 'civilised' don't you understand?" Henri demanded.

"I _was_ being polite and civilised," Gambit replied mischievously. "I was translating it into a language she could understand."

Henri looked at Gambit for a long moment and then banged his head on the table. "The Guild is doomed."

"Hey Roguey," Gambit said, giving her a nudge with his elbow. "Maybe they'll change their minds about this whole Patriarchy business."

"I wouldn't count on it," she replied.

After the main course, it was time for the speeches. Wanda was up first. She was a little nervous about this as she didn't really feel that she'd known Rogue long enough, but on the bright side, she didn't know most of the people here.

"Well," Wanda said. "When I first met Anna, I wasn't entirely certain I was going to like her, mostly because she interrupted Remy during a raid by doing an undisclosed activity that made him breathe heavily over the mic. It was disgusting and creepy, and I may never forgive you for it, dear. Quite frankly I think you're both a little foul over Vent sometimes. When you're not busy being sappy, you're busy with the innuendo, and it does get rather much at time. But, there are two things I'm sure of about you two: One, that you definitely deserve each other; and two, that you're very much in love. To Remy and Anna."

"I can't believe you said that," Rogue whispered to Wanda as she sat down.

"What, about the heavy breathing?" Wanda asked with a grin. "John wanted me to tell everyone our theory on what exactly you were doing to get him so worked up."

While Rogue was dealing with the extra dose of embarrassment that comment caused her, Henri stood up to give his speech. Rogue had regained herself by the time Henri was done for her speech and finally Gambit gave his.

Rogue was quite blown away by the croquembouche wedding cake. She'd never had the dessert before and Gambit informed her that she'd been missing out. After tasting it, she agreed.

The night ended not long after the bridal waltz, and the newlywed couple said good bye to all their guests.

"Never thought I'd see the day where you finally tied the knot," Storm teased Gambit as she gave him a hug. "I'm very happy for you, Remy."

"Merci," Gambit replied.

"And you as well Rogue," Storm said, smiling at the younger woman. "Congratulations to you both."

"Thank you," Rogue said. "Have a good trip home."

"We shall."

"You take good care of her, Gumbo," Logan said.

"Sir, yes sir," Gambit replied with a mock salute.

"Good attitude. Keep it up."

Gambit laughed.

"If he gives you any trouble, kid," Logan said to Rogue as he gave her a hug.

"He'll have to answer to me first," Rogue cut in with a grin.

"That's a lot more frightening," Gambit said.

Rogue gave Jubilee and Pete hugs and thanked them for coming, likewise with Wanda, John, Pietro and Dominic. The X-men would be departing right after the wedding, whereas their west coast friends would be leaving in the morning.

* * *

Later that night in the opulent hotel room they'd decided to rent for the purpose of having some privacy on their wedding night, Rogue was fast asleep in Gambit's arms with her head resting on his chest. Gambit had her left hand in his, looking at the wedding rings on their fingers. He'd worn a wedding ring before – they'd both had – but it was always only for show. He'd never worn one for real before.

Now that the moment of truth had passed and the nervousness had died down, Gambit was feeling somewhat ambivalent about being married. On the one hand, he was rather happy and excited about Rogue being his wife. On the other hand, he was apprehensive and even a little scared he had a wife at all.

He had similar feelings about Rogue's pregnancy. On the one hand, he was looking forward to being a father; on the other, dreading it. Still, aside from seeing Rogue deal with morning sickness these past three weeks, the pregnancy didn't feel entirely real to him just yet.

Gambit let go of her hand and snuggled in closer to Rogue. Perk number one of being married: Never having to troll bars to find a woman to warm his bed ever again. Granted, since he and Rogue started dating he hadn't been doing that anyway, but now it was official that he wouldn't have to any more because Rogue would always be there with him.

Well… after this last job he had. It was going to take awhile and he was going to have to leave in the next couple of days if he wanted to make sure he got it down before the cut off date for the years points. He was definitely going to miss Rogue in the coming weeks.

No doubt Rogue would take that teddy bear to bed with her while he was gone. He didn't know if he was amused or irritated about that.

* * *

After a lazy morning the next day, Rogue and Gambit saw Wanda and the boys off. After lunch, the couple returned to the LeBeau wing of the Guild Hall and headed up to the third floor. Rogue hadn't yet seen the floor.

"All right," Gambit said, opening up one door. "Now I know there's a lot of junk – oh sorry 'valuable antiques' – in here right now, but the plan is to move all that out, and make this into the baby's room. Obviously, the furniture isn't the only thing that needs to go."

"Yeah, the walls could do with a fresh coat of paint or new wallpaper, couldn't they?" Rogue replied, amused. "Who last slept in here? The Bride of Dracula?"

"Actually, I think this was Tante Jolie's room growing up."

"Who?"

"Père's sister."

"Jean-Luc has a sister? She wasn't at the wedding and I didn't notice, was she?"

"Trust me, if she had been at the wedding, everyone would have noticed," Gambit replied with a grin. "She died before I was even adopted."

"Oh, right," Rogue said, considered, and then asked: "She didn't die in here, did she? Or don't you know?"

Gambit laughed.

"I believe she had well and truly moved out of home by then," he said.

"Okay. Cool... No one died in our room, did they?"

"I wouldn't know, but Jacques LeBeau - mon grandpère - was the last one in that room and I know for certain he didn't die in there."

"Oh good," Rogue said and then looked a little shame-faced. "You probably think I'm weird, huh?"

"Nah," Gambit dismissed as he closed the door. "I know there are people out there who get uncomfortable about that kind of thing."

"You don't?"

"I spent the first ten years of my life living on the street. I _know_ I've slept places people have died," he said with a shrug. "It's never really bothered me."

"I take your point."

Gambit opened up the door across the hallway. "And this is our living room, or will be once we finish decking it out."

Rogue peered inside. There were a couple of desks set up for their computers, their display cabinet and Gambit's pinball machine. Otherwise the room was looking rather empty.

"Feel free to furnish and decorate to your heart's content, chére," he said. "Only fair after I furnished and decorated the bedroom."

"How long do you think you'll be gone?" she asked.

Gambit shrugged. "I'll be back before December first."

"Right," Rogue said with a sly smile. "Because that's the cut off date for the year's count."

"Exactly. Can't miss that."

"No, of course not."

"Glad you agree," Gambit said, and shut that door too. "And finally, our room."

He opened up the double doors at the end of the hallway and the smart remark Rogue had come up with about that died on her lips as her eyes laid upon the room. Aside from the fact that it was a huge bedroom in itself, the main feature of the room was an ornate four poster bed, complete with canopy and deep red curtains and matching side tables and mirrors on either side. There was a table in one corner with a couple of chairs and a tall bookshelf. On the opposite wall, between two doors there was a dressing table with another mirror. The wall opposite the bed had all the windows in the room, as well as a door leading out onto a balcony. The door and windows were also framed with red curtains.

"That is the single most gorgeous bed I have ever seen," she said, sounding awed.

"Tante Mattie thought you'd like it," Gambit said with a grin. "Which is great news, because I was dreading the idea of pulling it apart and moving it out."

"How can you not be completely in love with this bed?" Rogue demanded as she hugged one of the posts.

"Umm, because I'm in love with you?" he replied, looked at her with raised eyebrows, and added: "Great, I just got rid of the bear -"

"Not for another six months, Swamp Rat."

"- now I have to compete with the bed."

"Nah," Rogue said with a wink as she broke away. "I have a feeling the bed's into threesomes."

Gambit laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rogue looked expectantly at Mercy as she checked the items on the table. She had just finished identifying twenty gemstones – most real, but some fake – and labelling them with her assessment.

Since the wedding, Rogue had been immersed in further studies with the Guild in between preparing for the baby and fixing up the living room. As well as continuing her practice in other areas, Rogue had also begun to learn French, etiquette, bypassing electronics locks, and identifying gemstones.

"Well," said Mercy. "You did a lot better this time."

"Ahh," Rogue said, masking a wince. "Better, but not completely correct."

Mercy grinned at her and set aside three of them. "These are fake."

"Meh."

"Cut was wrong on this one," Mercy said, picking up another. "And clarity on this one. Don't worry, Rogue. It took me awhile before I had the hang of it. Takes practice, just like everything else."

* * *

Gambit's diabolical evil scheme was working well. The reaction of both parties to his stealing the security guards' pay was much bigger than he had anticipated, with the entire core of security guards deciding to stop working until their pay was sorted out and getting in with their union on the matter. The company bigwigs were blatantly refusing to pay them any 'extra' money, and their inability to come to any sort of understanding had forced them to hire other parties to take on security. The downside was that they had also asked the current payroll manager to 'take some time off', which meant that Gambit had to find another scapegoat in case he needed it. He'd half expected that to happen anyway, so he'd already been investigating others in the company he could frame. Framing wasn't normally his style, but he needed to hide that he was there.

Right now, in fact, in the security office as one of the five new guards hired in the last couple of days.

With all the chaos, it had been easy to slip inside as one of the new guys. Some planted paperwork (which he would later have to remove) with a stressed human resources manager, and his hypnotic charm just to tip the scales, and he had no problems convincing everyone he had a right to be there. Gambit was still playing games with the pay, though; if there was a high turnover of security employees, it was be easier for him to get away with a short employment time. After all, if all the new guys didn't last very long, no one could point a finger at him without pointing fingers at everyone else as well.

To top everything off, Gambit had also started causing general issues with the security system. With security personnel in such a state, it was understandable, even reasonable for there to be problems. The favourite issue was losing security feed, sometimes from one location, sometimes from multiple locations at a time. He also set off alarms and messed around with the security clearance of everyone who worked there. The point of this was threefold: One, he'd be able to cut out his appearances in the security feed without anyone thinking anything of it (too many new guards to keep track); two, it would cover up the events of the actual heist with no one being the wiser, and potentially even delay the theft being noticed; and three, the more stress the new guys had to deal with, the more likely they were to throw in the towel and quit.

Gambit eyed the lab in the security feed, and more importantly, the equipment inside. The next stage of the game involved a lot of waiting; there needed to be more security guard turnover before he could risk stealing the prize, but that was all right because it gave him all the time he needed to plan the final details of the theft itself.

The thing that made this job a four man job was the size and weight of the loot – a piece of equipment in one of the labs which would require two men to carry. The other two the job allowed for was someone to mind the security feed from the outside, and the last on the inside to open doors and other such details so that the men actually carrying the thing wouldn't have to. Gambit might have passed this job over because of the heavy unit, however, it had come to his attention that the unit wasn't what the client was after. The client was after a small device about the size of a peach _inside_ the unit. Unfortunately, in order to safely retrieve it, the unit needed to be shut down in the correct procedure which would take six to eight hours to do. As it had its own power supply, the unit could be safely taken offsite to do it, which was better practice than lingering at the scene for hours on end.

But it didn't _have_ to be shut down offsite.

All Gambit had to do was give himself the time to shut down the unit while he was inside, then he could just walk off with the prize, neatly tucked away in its special container. In the meantime, he would have to remain as inconspicuous and forgettable as possible. Not as easy task for someone as naturally charismatic and charming as himself – or someone with his unique eyes – but he was confident he could pull it off.

* * *

"And how is Rogue doing?" asked Jean-Luc as he leaned back in his chair.

"Mercy seems to think Rogue's doing all right," Henri replied. "Lock picking and pockets are significantly improved. She's still noisy walking –"

"I've noticed that myself."

"- but she's also good at grasping the basics of things, so for the most part it's a matter of practice. If it weren't for Remy's record, I'd suggest getting her out in the field doing a couple of jobs and getting some rank credits up. At this point, I see no reason why she couldn't make Journeyman next year. Well, aside from the stealth thing, that is."

"Oui," Jean-Luc said thoughtfully as he reached for his drink. "We'll definitely have to work on that one, especially if she's ever to make Master. At least she practices every day, which is more than I can say for some."

"Indeed. By the by," Henri said slyly. "Bella Donna ousted Thomas."

Jean-Luc spat out his drink.

"Thomas?" he repeated. "As in Pierre Thomas, the First Kill and Marius Bordeaux's right hand man?"

"That's the one," Henri replied smugly.

"How in the world did she manage _that_?" Jean-Luc demanded. "I thought he was so deep into the Guild it would take nothing short of a jackhammer to get him out."

"As I understand it, while he was on his annual holiday, Bella Donna arranged to have the mandatory retirement age reduced," Henri said. "Since he wasn't there to object, the, hmm, more opportunistic members of the council decided to take advantage and well, when he came back..."

Jean-Luc laughed.

"I have no idea if Bella Donna plans on changing it back again later but..." Henri shrugged. "She's appointed Gris Gris in his place."

"Well, that was to be expected," Jean-Luc said thoughtfully, "but I bet it didn't go down too well with the other councillors."

"I don't think they know yet."

"You've been finding things out before they do, again?"

"But of course! What kind of right hand man would I be if the Assassins knew what they were doing before I did?"

Jean-Luc laughed. "One of these days, I'm going to find out who your contact in the Assassins Guild is."

"You've been saying that for years."

There was a knock at the door and Jean-Luc called for them to come in.

"You wanted the preliminary report for the Top Ten list, sir?" said the young woman.

"Ahh, oui," Jean-Luc replied. "Merci, and pass on my thanks to Eloise as well."

The young woman agreed and turned to start back out the door when Jean-Luc spoke again.

"Is this right?" he asked, frowning at the paper.

"Sir?"

"Why is Remy in _second_ place, not first? That's quite a sizable point difference between him and Rogue."

"The numbers are correct, sir," the young woman replied.

"Does this include the job that Remy is currently on?"

"No, sir. We haven't counted any jobs we haven't gotten the paperwork for."

Jean-Luc was silent while the young woman shifted from foot to foot.

"Will the job he's on put him into first?" Jean-Luc asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know, sir," the young woman said. "Going by the estimated score for that job, no. However, Gambit is in the habit of scoring bonuses on jobs... It'll be close."

"I see."

The woman gave a nod and quickly departed. Henri reached out his hand for the paper and Jean-Luc gave it to him with a deep frown on his face.

"I thought we'd figured out that Rogue would get third position," Jean-Luc said.

"So did I," said Henri as he looked at the ten names on the list and their associated points. "I can't think why... huh."

"Something occur to you, mon fils?"

"Rogue's points. They're a lot more than what we... oh merde."

Jean-Luc said nothing, but looked at Henri with raised eyebrows. Henri put the paper down on the desk and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"We only took into account the points for the Assassins job," Henri said with a groan. "We didn't even think to take into account all the points she'd earned doing all the other jobs she did beforehand."

Jean-Luc picked up the paper and looked at it again. He nodded slowly.

"You're right," he said slowly. "We didn't take that into account. Well now, that certainly explains the difference."

"Which means Remy's really got to nail the job he's on now," said Henri, "or he's going to miss out on setting the record."

Jean-Luc was silent for a moment.

"Do you really think he can pull off a four-man job?"

"Honestly? He let me in on his planning, and on the surface I think he's found a way to make it work," Henri said seriously. "But there's an awful lot that can go wrong on this one, and he's running short on time. It's going to be tight."

"Bon," Jean-Luc said with a slight smile. "That boy thrives on challenges and high stakes, which means he'll probably pull it off. I would have been more worried if you said you thought it was going to be a piece of cake."

Henri laughed. "You might be onto something there, Père."

* * *

This was it. Tonight, Gambit was going to take the prize.

First things first. He arrived to work on time and discovered that there was a new guard on staff. The others were becoming increasingly incensed and stressed about the whole money / buggy security tech issues, just like he planned.

While Gambit was on his first patrol of the evening, he made sure that the security feed died as he entered the part of the building with the laboratories. The lights were cut as well, just to be on the safe side: his ability to see in the dark prevented this from becoming a hindrance. He entered the lab in question and made his way to the unit. Quickly, Gambit began the shut down procedure according to the instructions the client had provided. Prior, discreet examination of the unit told Gambit that the instructions should be accurate, as well as a charming discussion with one of the scientists who had been up late on more than one occasion.

Gambit was out of the lab and well past the laboratories by the time the security cameras came back on, and upon his return to the security office, Gambit discreetly removed all footage of his patrol in other areas of the base.

It was a bad evening for the security feed. It kept going down all evening at erratic intervals.

"I don't know how much longer I can deal with this," said Gambit to the other personnel in the flawless Boston accent he had adopted for this role. "Not getting paid enough to deal with this crap."

"Not getting paid at all," muttered one of the others.

"I hear you," said another.

Gambit made sure to hit the personnel files during one of his patrols and removed all evidence of his 'employment', whether hard copy or electronic. He regularly checked up on the unit, making sure it was shutting down correctly.

The unit had shut down by the seventh hour and as soon as that came to Gambit's attention, he retrieved his special container. Because of its size and less than discreet appearance, Gambit had been forced to hide it away from the lab and the security office. When he killed the feed, Gambit knew he was on a timer to get the container, get to the lab, open the unit and retrieve the prize, and hide the container away again until his shift was over. In preparation, Gambit had timed how long it took for the guys to get the feed back again, and used the shortest time to practice with. The only thing he couldn't time or practice was actually removing the prize from the unit, so he had to allow the bulk of the time available to do that in.

Gambit approached the turn off on his patrol and hit the button that would disrupt the feed. Instead of taking the normal patrol route, he veered off, retrieved the container from the fire escape (the alarm had long been disabled) and ran for the lab. He unlocked the panel on the unit - he was glad that it was opaque; that should help delay notice of the theft - and reached inside with a full glove and a pair of glass tongs. Gambit winced when, on the first attempt, the tongs slid off the prize, but undeterred (not to mention on a timer) he tried again. It wasn't until the third attempt that Gambit managed to grasp the prize and swiftly, but carefully, put it away. Then he attached a small battery unit and attached it to the wires commanding the lights on the unit. It took him only a moment to set things up so that the lights that were supposed to be on would still be on come the start of the next work day. Finally, Gambit shut the unit up, bolted back to the fire escape where he hid the container once again, and then raced to the place on his patrol where he needed to be by the time the feed came back on.

Afterwards when Gambit erased his presence from the footage away from the eyes of his 'colleagues', he was quite smug to find that he'd timed things perfectly. While he waited out the rest of his shift, he activated a virus he'd written to ensure that the security problems would continue after he 'quit'. The last time Gambit manually killed the feed was on his way out. He retrieved his container and departed the premises. The second last thing he had to do was disrupt the pay a final time in a couple of days. He'd selected the General Manager for his scapegoat; the man was a pain to work for, few actually liked him, and no one would be the slightest bit surprised if he turned out to be the villain. He also had both security clearance and enough technical aptitude that Gambit felt it would be believable to those investigating.

The last thing Gambit had to do was deliver the prize and actually get paid. He figured that was probably fairly important.

* * *

Eloise handed Rogue a thick bundle of paper, neatly held together with a bulldog clip.

"Do it at your own pace," Eloise was saying. "We would much prefer you take your time and understand what's there, then rush and cram for a deadline and know nothing more than how to take a test."

"My, there's a change from high school," Rogue replied with a slight smile.

Eloise was about to reply, when her door opened after a brief knock and Gambit's head poked through the gap.

"Eloise! Just the person I was looking for!" he said.

"Remy!" Rogue exclaimed as Gambit stepped inside.

"Roguey! I didn't expect to see you here," Gambit said, grinning at her. "You were next and last on my list of people to track down."

"Oh _really_?"

"Oui, 'cause I planned on spending the rest of the day with you. And possibly the rest of the week."

Rogue laughed as Gambit approached Eloise's desk with a folder in one hand.

"Looking for me, hmm?" Eloise asked. "And why might that be, Remy?"

"This," Gambit said, handing over the thick folder, "is the report, with two days to spare, for the job I just did. Tell me I'm awesome."

"Oh, you're awesome all right," Eloise said dryly as she took the folder. "It was a simple B&E. You shouldn't have generated this much paper."

"It was a simple B&E if you had four people to do it," Gambit replied. "For soloing, a little thinking outside the box was required. I think this has been one of my most profitable capers in a while. Well... other than that little job that took me to California June last year."

He winked at Rogue and she smiled.

"Mmmhmm," was all Eloise replied.

"Anyway, I can see that you're very busy," Gambit went on cheerfully. "So, as Roguey shouldn't be in on the scoring anyway, I'll just take her off your hands and let you get to work."

He held his hand out to Rogue and was momentarily taken aback when she stood up and he could see a decisive 'baby bump'. Gambit knew that at six months she'd definitely be showing, he hadn't seen her in three and the sight came as quite a shock. While he recovered, Rogue looked at Eloise, who gave her a slight nod. Rogue took Gambit's hand and they left Eloise's office.

"I missed you," she said.

"I missed you too, ma chére," he replied. "What's that you've got there?"

"Hmm? Oh this?" Rogue said, lifting up the thick bundle of paper. "Eloise thought it would be a good idea if I did some study into credit card and identity fraud. You know, tips and tricks, what to do, what not to do, what to look out for, stuff like that. The job went well, I take it?"

"Oh it went well, all right," Gambit said gleefully. "I cleaned up and cleaned out. They haven't even noticed it's gone yet."

Abruptly he caught Rogue in his arms and pulled her in for a deep, passionate kiss.

"I want you," he said as he trailed his hands over her stomach. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"No," Rogue replied with a slight smile.

"Bon."

He kept one arm around her waist as they continued on their way to the other side of the Guild Hall. They crossed paths with few others on their way, stopping only for the occasional 'bonjour' and for the elevator once they reached the LeBeau wing. The bedroom door hadn't even closed completely before clothes started coming off.

He kissed her and laid her down on the bed. His stomach grazed hers and just as things were getting started, abruptly he stopped. Gambit caught Rogue's smiling face.

"Did... did I... was that..." he stammered.

"Yes, the baby just kicked."

"Dieu! How long has that been happening?"

"A month or two."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I sent you pictures of the ultrasounds."

"I know. I appreciated it," Gambit replied, his face the picture of amazement.

"Sorry, I should have thought to tell you he'd started kicking."

"He?"

"'He' can be applied to boys and girls in this context," Rogue said. "I'm sure as hell not going to refer to the baby as 'it' or 'he/she'."

Gambit chuckled and kissed her again. Rogue was then amused (but no less appreciative) when Gambit proceeded to make love to her at a much slower, gentler pace than what she had been expecting him to do.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"So you _are_ back in N'Orleans," said a man's voice behind Gambit in the grocery store. "And here I was thinking I was mistaken about the exile being lifted."

Gambit turned and gave the man with beaded dreadlocks a cynical look as he dropped the maple syrup into his hand basket. The large, well-built man looked almost silly carrying his own small hand basket, filled with eggs, protein bars and cat food.

"Nice to see you too, Gris Gris. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way."

"Let me make this perfectly clear, Gambit," Gris Gris said coldly. "I don't like you."

"I'm not exactly trying to get you into bed either," Gambit replied.

"You killed my friend -"

"That was his idea if I recall -"

"- and lifting your exile has caused Bella Donna no end of trouble."

Gambit imagined he meant that on top of the trouble she was already having with the Assassins Guild council, but there's no way Gris Gris would admit how bad any dissension in the Guild was to him of all people.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Gambit said. "I certainly bear Bella Donna no ill will, and I would like to think our Guilds could actually get along."

"You're right, you know," Gris Gris said. "What happened with Julien that day? That was all his doing. Thing is, it wouldn't have really mattered which way it went; it still would have been his last day in N'Orleans. If he'd succeeded in killing you, Jean-Luc would have demanded restitution too. Even if he had agreed to exile over execution, Henri never would have lifted it."

"What's your point, Gris Gris?"

"My point is that there are a lot of Assassins who want to see you dead. Some of them object to Bella Donna's decision to the point where they would be willing to kill you for being here, as per the terms of your exile," said Gris Gris. "Personally, I don't care what happens to you, but Bella Donna's my friend too, and she put her neck on the line for you. I would hate for that to all be in vain."

"Don't worry about me," Gambit replied. "People have been out to get me well before Julien died. I wish I could say that was paranoia."

Gris Gris snorted. "From you I believe it, although I never thought I'd say that to a _Thief_."

"Today must be a day for firsts then. I never thought an _Assassin_ would warn me to watch my back."

"Yeah... let's not make a habit of this."

"Agreed."

* * *

The next few weeks leading up to the Guild Christmas party were almost a blur of activity. Gambit was filled with an almost boyish excitement about the event: his first Guild Christmas party in the Guild Hall in over twenty years.

"So Henri," Jean-Luc said one day whilst in ear-shot of Gambit. "Where do you think we should hold the party this year? Remy's place or the Hall?"

"Hmm... tough question," Henri replied seriously.

Gambit pulled faces at them.

"Oui, you're going to be a fine example for your child," Henri said.

"But of course!" Gambit replied.

Rogue was rather impressed by the massive Christmas tree the Thieves acquired and was even more impressed to see the decorators at work on it.

Like the year before, on the day of the party, Tante Mattie recruited Gambit and a number of other good cooks amongst the Thieves and had them all busy cooking for the masses that night.

Finally, Tante Mattie released Gambit from the kitchen, and after changing he met up with Rogue in the ballroom.

"Huh, a projector," Gambit mused as he looked at the white screen that was set up at one end of the hall. "I wonder what they're planning on using that for."

"Got me," Rogue replied with a shrug, all the while having a pretty good idea what it was for.

Before too long the ballroom started filling up with Thieves and their families. Rogue was reunited with her friends, Zoe, Andre, Stephane, and Brad for the first time since the wedding. They had all been busy stealing things, too.

"Hi there little foetus," Zoe said to Rogue's stomach.

"Little foetus?" Brad repeated. "Oookay."

Rogue laughed.

"So, having any weird cravings?" Zoe asked.

"Weird? Like peanut butter on pickles?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, like that," Zoe said, pulling a face. "Eww."

"I agree. Nope, no weird cravings."

"Oh, well, that's good then. Although you are missing out on grossing people out with weird combinations."

"This is true. Oh well," Rogue replied with a shrug.

"Next time?"

"I want to get through this a first time before I start thinking about 'next time'."

Zoe chuckled.

This party was a little different from parties of previous years. Everyone, not just Gambit, was anxious to learn the names of this year's Top Ten Thieves; specifically if Gambit had made it to number one and had broken the record for most years in a row spent in that position. There was a good deal of speculation, most in his favour, but rumour had it that Gambit had stiff competition this year. For security reasons, the details of jobs were never made public knowledge, so the job Rogue did for the Assassins never went outside of the upper members of the council and the immediate LeBeau family. Nevertheless, regardless of the fact that few knew the details, it had become common knowledge that one of the Novice Thieves had scored much higher than normal this year and all fingers were pointing at Rogue.

Jean-Luc waited until Tante Mattie informed him that dinner was about ready to be served before he took the stand. It didn't take much to get everyone's attention.

"Mes fils et filles," Jean-Luc said to the waiting crowd. "I was going to announce the Top Ten Thieves list, but I've been informed that dinner's ready, so I'll let you eat first –"

He chuckled to himself as there was a mass objection to his delay.

"No? You want to wait?" he asked. "Well, it's your fault if my food gets cold. At number ten, Stephane Rousseau."

"Yes!" Stephane cheered. "Two years in a row."

"Shh," Andre hissed at him.

Jean-Luc continued to call out names. Emil winced when his position was at number eight. Zoe was thrilled to bits when she found out she climbed two places to number six. When Jean-Luc got to number three, Rogue was expecting to hear her name, and was a little surprised when it wasn't. Still, they had said it would depend on how other people did as well, so Rogue thought nothing of it until Jean-Luc's next words:

"You may be interested to know that there are only eleven points between first and second this year," Jean-Luc said. "I have been informed that things haven't been that close between first and second in years. But before we announce any names, I have this video I'd like to share. Henri?"

Henri nodded and grinned as he set up the video. They had needed to edit the original footage so that the fact that Rogue stole the Assassins Guild didn't get announced to the world.

Everyone watched as the image of Jean-Luc's office came up on the screen. The focus of the video was Gambit, beside him was Rogue and on the other side was Jean-Luc behind his desk. They couldn't see Henri, but they could hear his voice when he spoke, and all they could see of Mercy were her legs (Henri wasn't complaining).

_"You're not going to be able to get out of it that easily, Remy," Jean-Luc said reprovingly. "You're still going to have to learn the ropes. I've done my best over the years to keep you informed, but there is so much that can't be done by remote."_

_"D'accord," Gambit nodded. "I am quite prepared to sit down and learn what needs to be learned, but next year. This is my record breaking year."_

_"Ahh, oui, your record breaking year," Jean-Luc said with a glance at Henri._

_"What?" Gambit asked, looking between them. "Do I have a strong contender I don't know about?"_

_"Well, it's just that this year there's going to be a new record set," Henri told him. "First novice ever to make the top ten."_

_Everyone looked at Rogue, who had a stunned expression on her face._

_"Me?" she asked._

Henri smirked to himself. They'd needed to cut out a whole chunk of the conversation here, and then blot out some of Gambit's next words:

_"So, how does stealing ... score?"_

_"A very good question," Jean-Luc replied. "And one we debated quite seriously."_

_"Oui," Henri nodded. "In the end we decided to find the most points scored by any one person for any one job and times it by ten."_

_"I still think that might be understating it a bit," Jean-Luc said._

_"Well we haven't exactly got any precedence, and ... it's not likely that's a record that will ever be beaten."_

_"True."_

_"This looks to be your year for breaking records, Rogue. Not only first novice, but you're going to beat Remy's record for highest debut too."_

_"Merde!" Gambit exclaimed. "I'm supposed to be at the top spot this year. It's year thirteen, the year I'm supposed to break the record I spent my entire exile aiming to beat! Père, the jobs that have come in, they're all being kept in the same spot, right?"_

_"Oui," Jean-Luc replied casually._

_"Bon. Chére," Gambit said, giving Rogue a kiss. "Congratulations and all, but I have a record to beat and only six more months to ensure I beat it in. Love you."_

_"Love you too," Rogue replied and grinned as Gambit rushed out the door._

There was a mix of laughter and chatter as the video came to an end. Many were highly amused at Gambit's panicked reaction, and just as many were rather curious about what exactly Rogue had done to score so high. Henri was rather proud of his editing.

"I can't believe there was a camera," Gambit muttered.

Rogue laughed and squeezed his hand.

"Ahem," Jean-Luc said. "As you saw, Rogue has set the records for first Novice on the Top Ten List, highest score ever made for a single job, and highest Top Ten debut. _Remy_ has also succeeded in setting the record for first person ever to successfully solo a four man job."

The tension was way too thick at that point for anyone to even consider chattering in response to that.

"He has also..." Jean-Luc said, and then rushed on with the last part; "broken the record for most years in a row spent as the number one Thief!"

Everyone cheered and applauded. Gambit leapt up on his chair with a whoop and proceeded to do a happy dance, his arms waving in the air. It was quite some time before order could be re-established.

"And after thirteen years in the top spot, it's time someone else had a go, don't you agree Remy?" Jean-Luc said with a teasing grin.

"Nah, I have to go for fourteen years now," Gambit replied.

A mass of groans followed.

"Hmm, fortunately for aspiring Thieves everywhere, you're going to be retiring from the field," Jean-Luc said.

"Yeah, now we just have to worry about his wife!" Emil called out.

Rogue laughed.

Everyone was released for dinner after that. In honour of his achievement, Gambit was allowed first choice of the food with Rogue a close second.

"Hey, save some for the rest of us," Emil teased her.

"Shush you," Rogue said. "I'm eating for two. By rights I should have two plates instead of heaping everything on one. See? I _am_ being conservative."

Gambit laughed.

After Zoe filled her plate (when she eventually got to the buffet), she joined Rogue, Gambit and the group they were sitting with.

"So, I have to know," Zoe said to Rogue, "what exactly was it that you did?"

"Come on Zoe," said Henri. "You know she can't tell you that."

"Yeah, but I'm dying of curiosity over here."

"You and everyone else."

Stephane joined them only a moment later and promptly asked the same question.

"Okay fine," Rogue said with mock-irritation. "If you really must know –"

"Rogue –" Henri began.

"I stole Remy," Rogue finished, pointing at her husband with her plastic fork. "I stole his heart, his soul, his sperm... I stole him from all other women everywhere –"

Gambit cracked up laughing.

"And you have to admit," Rogue went on cheerfully, "stealing a Master Thief, Remy in particular, is quite an achievement."

"You're not serious," Stephane said.

"No, of course not," Rogue replied.

"She does raise a good point though," Henri said thoughtfully. "Maybe we should give her points for that."

"Yeah," Emil agreed. "I'd say it's worth at least twelve points..."

Gambit whacked Emil upside the head.

"I'm guessing that the whole council knows?" Zoe asked. "Or at least the upper ranks?"

"That would be correct," Henri replied.

"Note to self," Zoe said. "Earn place on council."

Rogue laughed.

"Hey, I don't get any perks from being the official rep of the Tokyo Thieves Guild, do I?" Zoe asked.

"Not those kinds of perks, Zoe," Henri replied. "But nice try."

* * *

By the time the party was over and Gambit and Rogue had finally returned to their bedroom, Gambit felt like he'd been congratulated by every Thief in the Guild. In hindsight, he was probably pretty close. There had been no shortage of probing Rogue for details either, but Rogue just pointed out that she never asked them for the details of their heists and she wasn't about to start either.

"Well," said Gambit as he got ready for bed. "Tonight was a good night, no?"

"Yes, yes it was," Rogue replied. "I didn't realise we'd be so close together for first place though."

"Disappointed you didn't beat me?"

"Actually I'm relieved," she said, sitting on one of the chairs to take off her shoes. "I would have felt terrible if you'd missed out on getting your record because of me."

Gambit grinned at her. "And I admit that I would have been devastated if I missed out, _but_ I also would have been very proud of you, chére."

"Well, you deserved to get your record," Rogue said firmly. "You've only been working towards it for over half your life. It took me less than a week to do the job for Bella Donna, and most of the prep was done on the day."

"Best kind of job; minimum effort for maximum return," Gambit said. "Actually, I'm kind of glad things worked out the way they did; stopped me from being complacent and forced me to put some effort into it. Plus I've been toying with the idea of doing a four-man job for years."

Rogue laughed.

"Of course, it couldn't just be any job," Gambit said seriously. "There's a certain amount of flexibility with the multi-men jobs, but there isn't always a loophole big enough to solo them."

"Oh, I don't think it's me you have to worry about following your example, Remy," Rogue replied with a smirk.

"My example? What about yours?" Gambit asked as he got into bed. "You've only done what every Novice in the history of the Guild has secretly wanted to do and that's be identified as a truly natural, talented thief and outdo all Master Thieves before they've earned the rank themselves."

"We make a great pair, don't we?"

"Absolutely. And you realise what this means, right?"

"What does it mean?"

"Our children will be unstoppable."

Rogue laughed as she lay in bed next to him.

"Speaking of children," Gambit said, rolling onto one side to look at Rogue. "We haven't furnished the baby's room yet, or, you know, picked out any names. We might want to do that."

"What, you want to give our baby a name?" Rogue asked jokingly. "What a shocking concept. I just figured he'd pick his own name."

"Maybe when he's older."

"If we have a girl, I want to name her Rebecca."

"Rebecca," Gambit repeated. "Yeah okay. And for a boy?"

"No idea."

"Me neither."

"We should probably get some name books."

"Ouias."

* * *

Christmas Day was strangely quiet in the Guild Hall. The LeBeaus were the only ones who actually lived on the premises, but it was rare that they were the only ones there. Even in their own wing of the extensive mansion (which Rogue thought was roughly on par with Xavier's), there was normally one or two servants going about their work. Today it was just the LeBeaus and Tante Mattie, who left as soon as it was polite to after lunch; she had plans to spend the afternoon with Bella Donna and Avril, having played mother-figure to Bella Donna as well as Gambit, Henri and Julien.

Rogue wasn't used to having servants yet. She'd never had them before and never expected to. Just to make things even more interesting, however, was that the housekeeping staff uniform – for both men and women – was quite tight and skimpy. The women was very "gentlemen's club" and the men had about the dignity of male ballet dancers. Rogue felt that, all in all, it was like a bad porno flick waiting to happen, and inadvertently verbalised this opinion within Henri's earshot one day. His first response was to ask her how she knew what went on in 'bad porno flicks'. Rogue replied with dignity that she had a lot of voices in her head.

"We thought about changing the uniforms once," Henri said. "But then we came up with a really good excuse to continue being perverts – err, I mean we decided we had good reason to leave the uniforms as they were."

"Uh huh," Rogue drawled sceptically.

"Security. It's really hard to hide things on your person when your clothing doesn't hide very much," Henri said seriously. "Most of the housekeeping staff and half the kitchen hands are not Guild members, and while we do have our own checks when we hire people, spies can – and have – gotten in as servants. That's why they only do the public areas, bathrooms, the council chamber after sessions are over, the training rooms after classes are over, and the unused bedrooms; nothing important is ever kept in there. Everywhere else we have to do our own cleaning."

"Because cleaners have access everywhere?"

"Oui. And normally they're also invisible; people ignore them, so they make excellent spies."

"So, why not do your own chores if they're a potential risk?"

"Deux reasons; One, we're lazy."

Rogue laughed.

"Deux," Henri went on with a grin, "working with the servants is not only good punishment for erring apprentices, it's also excellent training for when _we_ pose as housekeepers to steal stuff. Which reminds me –"

"If you think you're going to get me into one of those outfits, you're sorely mistaken."

"I'm sure Remy will be very disappointed."

Gambit was delighted to get to spend his first Christmas at home in New Orleans in twenty-one years. He went to a lot of trouble to make lunch perfect.

"And just think," said Mercy. "This time next year we'll have another family member."

"Yep," Rogue said with a big grin on her face.

"Have I told you how much I'm looking forward to being an oncle?" Henri said.

"Oui," Gambit replied. "On multiple occasions."

Henri rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Just you wait until I get all those noisy toys. Drums. They don't require batteries. Oh sweet, sweet revenge."

"You fed them red candy too, didn't you?" Rogue asked Gambit.

"Of course," Gambit said with a grin.

"We always loved Oncle Remy," said Claude. "He was always giving us cool gifts and junk food."

"I had to make up for all the time I couldn't spend with my nephews in those few, scant meetings..." Gambit said.

"Oh woe is Remy," Mercy said dryly.

* * *

**AN:**

**Alternate response:**

"My example? What about yours?" Gambit asked as he got into bed. "You've only done what every Novice in the history of the Guild has secretly wanted to do and that's be identified as a truly natural, talented thief and outdo all Master Thieves before they've earned the rank themselves."

"Yeah," said Rogue. "If this was fanfiction, I'd be accused of being a Mary Sue."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: **

Okay, there is precious little information about how the Guild operates in the comicverse, so although I've attempted to use as much from the comicverse as possible as a base, only a small part of it will be canon. Also I didn't do enough research on the Guild prior to writing **Queen of Identify Fraud**, so that's made things harder for myself in a couple of places, but what's done is done, haha.

Theoren Marceaux and Genard Alouette really are the Harvest Master and Harvest Disseminator, respectively. The Disseminator description is an extended variation/interpretation on what it says in the comics. I couldn't find a description for Master, so I made one up that fit in which that which had already been established in this series.

The Guild is also made up of clans, including 'LeBeau', 'Lapin' and 'Poiter'. Claude Poiter is comic canon. All other names belong to OCs. The Departments are all my doing, as is the Minister of Stores. The Minister of Tome and the Minister of Hoard do exist in comic canon but since we're not doing the whole prophecy thing, their roles have been slightly altered.

And now that I'm done babbling...

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Henri grinned at Gambit as he stepped into his office and gestured to a nearby chair and table.

"Have a seat," Henri said.

"Thanks," Gambit replied dryly, already suspicious of his brother's grin.

"Now, can you remember why you're here today?" Henri asked as if he was talking to a small child.

"So that you can have fun being patronising?"

"Close, but not quite. Care to try again?"

"To train me to take over from Père as Patriarch one day," Gambit said, giving Henri a dark look.

"Very good! Now I know that Jean-Luc did his very best to keep you informed all these years, so today we're going to see how much you've actually taken in," Henri said, thoroughly enjoying himself. "Let's start with the basics, shall we?"

"Are you going to carry on like this all the time?"

"Can you tell me what the Patriarch does?"

Gambit sighed and took the continuing use of the 'talking to a child' tone as a 'yes'.

"He leads the Thieves Guild."

"I asked what he does."

"That _is_ what he does."

"Be more specific."

"He runs the council, makes all the big decisions, conducts ceremonies, oversees the initiation, promotion, retirement and – worst case scenario – expulsion of Guild members. He maintains relations with other branches of the Thieves Guild, and with the Assassins Guild. On paper this also extends to the local gangs," Gambit said with a slight smirk, "but in practice they think they're too good for us."

"Very good Remy," Henri said as he walked over to him. "You get a gold star."

Henri grinned as he put a little gold star sticker on Gambit's collar. Gambit looked at him for a long moment.

"You've been planning this for awhile now, haven't you?"

Henri didn't reply at first. Without the grin moving from his lips, he picked up a large sheet of paper and a packet of crayons.

"Okay Remy," Henri said with the false eagerness of a children's television show host. "Now you get to draw. Isn't that exciting? Why don't you draw me a picture of the Guild hierarchy structure? Don't forget everyone's names."

"Okay Henri," Gambit replied in the same tone. "And afterwards we can hold hands and go skipping through the daisies."

"Only if you're a good boy and don't make any mistakes."

"Right," Gambit said contemptuously as he picked up one of the crayons. "Like this is anything I don't know."

"Then it won't take you very long."

Although at first Gambit was rather disgruntled by the whole situation, he did get some mild amusement out of picking different coloured crayons for different parts of the drawing. Partway through, the thought occurred to him that one day he might end up drawing pictures with his children and somehow that seemed to take the edge off the embarrassment he was feeling.

When he was finished, Gambit raised his hand in the air and waved it around.

"Oui Remy?" Henri said, once his attention had been caught.

"Monsieur LeBeau, I've finished," Gambit said childishly.

"Okay Remy," Henri said, coming around with his packet of gold stars. "Let's see what you've got."

Henri leaned over and turned the paper around so he could get a good look at it.

"Let's see, 'Patriarch', 'Jean-Luc LeBeau'. Well, that was an easy one, but I guess I can give you a gold star for that. And another gold star for getting our positions as 'lieutenant' correct. Oh, and I suppose I can give you another star for spelling your name right –"

"Henri –"

"Deux more gold stars for remembering that Theoren Marceaux is the Harvest Master and Genard Alouette is the Harvest Disseminator, as well as being the heads of their clans. Do you know what the Harvest Master and Harvest Disseminator do?"

"Goods and services," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"Uhh," Henri said, momentarily thrown off. "Well, I suppose that's true in a nutshell, but I don't want it in a nutshell, Remy."

"Of course you don't. The Harvest Disseminator sells the loot, stores and hides what can't be sold yet and manages the safe-houses. The Harvest Master is concerned with recruitment, training and equipment."

"Right. Now, you've got all the other clan leaders... and you remembered all their names too," Henri said, putting more gold stars on the paper. "An extra gold star for remembering that Eloise Picard is the Head of both the Legal Department and the Picard Clan."

"Now there's a busy woman."

"If only all the clan heads were that busy," Henri said with a smirk. "Let's see, Forgery Department, Tech Department, Minister of Hoard, Minister of Tome and Minister of Stores, and then the rest of the Thieves. This is looking rather good, Remy. There's just one problem."

"I didn't name all the Master, Expert, Journeyman, Novice and apprentice Thieves?" Gambit suggested with raised eyebrows.

"Non, that's what the roster is for. Actually, you're missing about a dozen people."

"I am not."

"Oui, you are," Henri said, grinning broadly at Gambit's indignation. "They're all in a similar position too. I'd say that if you got one on here, you'd remember all of them, but you actually have two in this position and still have no idea what I'm talking about."

Gambit looked at the paper with a dumbfounded expression. "Who am I missing?"

"I'll let you figure that one out for yourself," Henri said, and then added cheekily: "Guess we won't be going for that skip through the daisies after all."

Gambit threw a crayon at him. Henri just laughed and went back to his chair while Gambit reviewed his chart. Somehow he was missing a dozen people. That was quite a few people to just forget. Just as Gambit was beginning to think that Henri had just made up the additional people as some kind of test for his reaction, however, he finally realised who he was missing; all the lieutenants or second-in-commands of the different Clans, Departments and chief assistants for the Ministers.

"That's all the positions," Henri said when he came to check. "But you seem to have missed quite a few names."

Gambit shrugged. "I don't usually interact with them so..."

"Which is the first thing we have to fix," Henri said firmly. "We're not a Guild made up of strangers who have something in common; we're a family, and as the future head of this family – the father – you have to know who your children are."

"What about illegitimate children?" Gambit asked cheekily.

Henri rolled his eyes and whacked Gambit upside the head. "And that's your assignment for this week: Go learn their names and get to know them a little. You've had too much time away from the Guild proper, and now we have to fix that."

"You're telling me," Gambit muttered.

"Oui, that's what I just did," Henri replied. "Now git."

"Yeah, yeah," Gambit said as he stood up, hiding the fact that he was actually rather pleased with the idea of socialising over paperwork. "Oh, and Henri?"

"Oui?"

"Next time you give me a gold star, I'm shoving it up your ass."

* * *

Now that a new year had begun, Rogue could freely do jobs without worrying about robbing Gambit of his record. Granted, she was also seven months pregnant, but if anything Rogue felt this just helped her position: no one suspects the pregnant woman.

Rogue had also chosen not to use her powers unless she had to. She figured that since food, cigarettes, general emotional health and that kind of thing could influence the baby during pregnancy, that it was possible her psyches might also be able to influence the baby, to say nothing of the potential dangers of shape-shifting. Thus it was that all the stunts Rogue pulled were conducted without the aid of her mutation.

Claude Poiter raised an eyebrow as Rogue drove the car into the garage and was there to open the driver's door for her.

"Doesn't the stomach get in the way of trying to hotwire these things?" he asked her. "Not to mention trying to drive?"

"Nah," Rogue replied. "As long as I can still reach the pedals without it touching the steering wheel, it's all good."

Not long thereafter, Carnival season started and Rogue could be found out in the crowds with many other Thieves putting her pocket picking practice to practical use. Gambit was not happy about his pregnant wife being out in the thick crowds.

"Chére –"

"Stop being such a mother hen. I'm fine. The baby's fine –"

"And I'd like it to stay that way, thank you very much!"

Rogue rolled her eyes at him from across the room as Remy sulked on their large, unmade bed.

"The only thing that's going to happen out there," she said, "is a few pockets are going to be lighter."

"For that kind of small change, I really don't think it's worth it."

"Hey, I have all sorts of credit cards to max out," Rogue said. "Plus I never really got to enjoy Mardi Gras last year."

"There'll be lots of Mardi Gras. There'll be lots of Mardi Gras spent picking pockets and probably with our kids too. It'll be a nice family event, but not this year, please chére?"

"Family event, huh? You know, you could always come with me."

"I can't. Henri's not letting me off to socialise any more."

"Aww poor baby."

"Believe me," Gambit said. "I'd much rather be with you. I hate paperwork. I hate being stuck behind a desk."

"You sit behind a desk to play WoW," Rogue pointed out with a grin.

"That's different! That's fun."

"You also sit behind a desk when you hack into other people's computer systems."

"That's also fun. I like being places I don't belong. Please Roguey," Gambit said. "If it wasn't Carnival I'd be all for you going out, but I just think it's too crowded, and it's only going to get worse before the season is over. I don't want to see you - either of you - getting hurt."

Rogue sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I can take care of myself," she said.

"I'm not saying you can't," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm saying that I don't want anything to happen that you'll have to 'take care of' in the first place."

Rogue begrudgingly conceded a couple of days later when she started becoming a little uncomfortable with the crowds herself. She went up to the offices to see if she could catch Gambit for lunch when she heard his voice come floating down the hall:

"- not cut out for this 9-to-5 crap, but now not only do I have this faux honest job -"

"Bite your tongue," said Henri.

"- I've also got a wife and a kid to deal with. My life is over."

And then Gambit and Henri came around the corner and his eyes fell on Rogue with her lips pressed tightly together.

"Chére -"

"Well," Rogue interrupted him. "Since you feel that way about it, I'll get out of your hair."

Henri stifled his grin as Rogue turned and half-strode, half waddled back down the hall. Gambit hurried after her. Henri followed as well, partly because he was going that way, and partly because he wanted to see how Gambit was going to talk himself out of this one.

"Rogue, chére, I didn't mean it like that -" Gambit began, slipping his hand onto the small of her back out of habit.

"I think it's pretty damn obvious what you meant," she snapped.

"Well, I don't," Gambit insisted. "For one thing I'm still alive and breathing -"

"I can fix that!"

"- so clearly when I said my life was over, I wasn't actually talking about my life-life," he said, his mind already racing ahead to fill in the gaps.

Rogue slammed her hand down on the elevator button. "I don't care which life you were talking about -"

"I was talking about my life before all this. The one I had as... as a carefree bachelor."

"Well, I'm soooo sorry to have robbed you of all that," she retorted hotly.

"I never said it was a bad thing!" Gambit said, all the while thinking _"although I wouldn't mind going back to that right about now."_

"Remy, _I'm_ the one you married," Rogue said as the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. "_I'm_ the one carrying your child, and _I'm_ the one who got your exile lifted making this whole Patriarchy thing possible. You'll excuse me if I take blanket statements like 'my life is over' just a little personally!"

"I just got all the responsibility dumped on me all at once and I'm not used to dealing with it," Gambit said as he followed her into the elevator.

"You're not used to dealing with it? How the hell do you think I feel?" Rogue snapped. "I'm going to be a mother. My husband has been away for most of my pregnancy. I'm trying to prove that I'm capable of being a decent thief without having to rely on my powers to get the job done. I'm living in a place where people randomly start speaking in a language I only partially understand. My back hurts _all_ the time, I can't sleep because everything aches too much. _And_ I'm having motorcycle withdrawal. Stupid cars."

Gambit restrained the urge to laugh at her last complaint. Henri didn't, although he at least covered his mouth in the corner of the elevator.

"Chére, you're doing fine," he said gently, cupping her face although she wouldn't look him in the eye. "Really! And I wouldn't change anything that's happened for all the world, I just need some time to settle in and get into the swing of things, okay?"

"You've got six weeks," Rogue replied shortly. "After that I'm pretty sure things are going to get harder with a baby to take care of."

"Well, you drive a hard bargain, but I accept."

Rogue finally met his eyes and was silent for a long moment before cracking a smile.

"Henri," she said as the elevator doors opened, not bothering to look at him. "I'm taking your brother for lunch, and possibly the rest of the day as well."

"I don't know, Rogue," Henri replied. "Remy's got a lot of work today."

"You can do it, and you can think of it as the price you pay for listening in on our argument and laughing at us."

"I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at Remy. By the way," Henri said gleefully. "You are aware he charmed you just then?"

"Henri!" Gambit objected.

"Yes, of course I am," Rogue replied with a hand waved in dismissal. "But if I didn't let him charm me, I was going to start crying, and I hate crying. Stupid hormones."

"Ha!" Gambit said, smirking at Henri.

"Don't you start getting used to me letting you off so easy, Swamp Rat."

"Wouldn't dream of it, River Rat."

* * *

_"All right, this is it," _said John over the voice system. _"The Horde verses the Alliance. The X-men verses... people with taste. We're ready to kick your Gnome-loving butts!"_

_"Nuh-uh," _Jubilee insisted. _"Not this time, chump."_

_"This coming from my Tauren's midnight snack," _said Pietro.

_"And let the battle of Warsong Gulch begin!" _John declared.

The gates on either side of the battleground opened and the players sent their characters out. Pietro, thanks to his superspeed, had five avatars at his disposal: A Blood Elf paladin, a Forsaken priest, an Orc shaman, an Orc warlock and a Tauren warrior. He immediately went to work guarding their Horde flag.

Gambit with his Orc hunter and pet wolf, Rogue and her Tauren druid, Wanda and her Blood Elf priest, John and his Troll mage and Dominic and his Orc warrior set out towards the Alliance base to capture their flag. Emerging from the tunnel of the Alliance base was Jubilee's Gnome mage, Pete's Human paladin, Bobby's Draenei hunter and with pet bear, Kitty's Night Elf priest and Hank's Human death knight.

Rogue had been quite shocked to find out from Jubilee that Hank was actually a rather avid WoW player. Hank had been rather delighted to find out that his young friends had taken an interest in the game. Much to Storm and Logan's disgust, WoW quickly swept around Xavier's, ensnaring the X-men and a number of students as well. Logan could never be made to admit it aloud, but since the X-men often teamed up together in-game, it had also improved their teamwork in the danger room as well.

The two offensive sides clashed against each other in the middle ground. Rogue found herself being stabbed in the back by someone's Dwarf rogue. John lobbed fireballs at Kitty's priest and cackled evilly when he succeeded in counter-spelling her heals and killed her. He made his avatar run over to Kitty's avatar's body, sit on her face and quickly stand up again to race off and start attacking his next target.

_"What the... John! Did you just teabag me?" _Kitty exclaimed.

_"Mmmmaybe..." _John replied, grinning away.

_"You scumwad! You are sooo dead!"_ she said as she waited to be resurrected.

John just laughed. Thus was the beginning on an epic battle where the two singled each other out. Unfortunately for Kitty, John won most of the time as experience, gear and knowledge of class trumped righteous anger. At one point Pete swooped into Kitty's rescue and pounded John, finishing with a critical strike that sent John to the graveyard.

_"Eep! I'm squishy!"_ John said in half good humour, and half indignation.

In the end, the Horde won over the Alliance and as the final two minutes counted down John located Wanda and made his avatar kneel before hers.

_"Wanda, I was wondering,"_ he said, _"will you marry me?"_

Wanda stopped and stared at her screen as a trade window opened and a "Flawless Diamond Solitaire" appeared. While she was still digesting this, there was a noise beside her and John was kneeling for real in the floor in front of her with a genuine ring in his hand.

_"Wanda! The silence is killing us!" _Jubilee said. _"To say nothing of what John –"_

_"Yes!" _Wanda said, jolted out of her shock by Jubilee's voice. _"Yes, absolutely, I'd love to marry you."_

A variety of cheers, awwing and congratulations followed as the battleground ended.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The last few weeks of Rogue's pregnancy seemed to drag on. She became increasingly tired and uncomfortable, and was prone to fits of telling Gambit off because "this was all his fault". Gambit could never help himself, and would often reply that it takes two to make a baby - and then promptly run for cover.

There were a few false alarms with labour too. However, at a little after two in the morning, three days past her due date:

"Congratulations," said Tante Mattie as she passed the small bundle to Rogue, "you have a son."

"Oh," Rogue said in a half strangled sob as she looked down at her baby. "Remy, we have a boy."

Gambit sounded a little choked up himself: "Oui, chére. We have a boy."

* * *

"We decided on Olivier," Gambit told the family at breakfast some hours later.

"I can't believe you didn't wake me," Mercy muttered.

"You heard the man," said Henri. "It was the middle of the night. I don't know about you, but I need my beauty sleep."

"It's not working," said Gambit.

"So?" Mercy demanded. "When do I get to see my nephew?"

"When Rogue wakes up, I guess," Gambit replied. "Or alternatively, when Olivier wakes Rogue up."

"Well," said Jean-Luc. "Can I say congratulations?"

"Thank you, Père," Gambit said.

* * *

"Roguey," Gambit said, tentatively opening the bedroom door. "We've got visitors..."

"It's okay," Rogue replied. "They can come in."

The door opened the rest of the way then, letting Gambit, Jean-Luc, Henri, Mercy, Claude, and Lucian in. Henri was carrying a breakfast tray.

"Did you want the light on?" asked Mercy, a little put off by the half-light in the room.

"Umm, no." Rogue replied, a slight smile on her face. "I don't think that would be a very good idea."

"Why's that, chére?" Gambit asked as Henri put the tray down on Rogue's bedside table.

"Come see," Rogue said, her smile turning into a grin as she shifted Olivier slightly.

"Mon dieu," Gambit breathed, his eyes landing on his son's own ones of red-on-black.

"I remembered that you were light sensitive," Rogue said. "I wasn't sure if Oli was going to be the same, but he didn't seem to like it with the lights on all the way so... But then he is only a few hours old, so it might not have been related at all."

"May I hold him?" asked Mercy.

"Sure," Rogue replied.

Mercy carefully extracted Olivier from Rogue's arms and moved away from the bed slightly so that Jean-Luc and Henri could see him. Claude and Lucian looked too, although truthfully the teenagers just felt awkward about the whole thing. Gambit sat down on the side of the bed, his eyes not moving from his son, regardless of who was holding him.

"He has my eyes," he said softly.

"We noticed that," Rogue replied with a slight smirk for his dazed tone.

Afterwards, Gambit walked his family out of the bedroom, and after he closed the door he turned the dimmer on the light switch, increasing the brightness in the room. Olivier was now asleep in his crib, which had been set up in their bedroom instead of his own room for now.

"Umm..." Rogue said, just as she was about to put her first bite of breakfast into her mouth.

"This is as bright as I can comfortably deal with," Gambit said. "Any brighter and I need sunglasses or to be introduced by increments."

Rogue nodded "Okay."

* * *

Gambit sat down in the office with Jean-Luc, Henri and Theoren.

"So," said Gambit. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Test day," Jean-Luc replied.

"I get a test?"

"Non," Theoren said. "Although we should probably give you one."

"We're assigning the tests for this quarter," Jean-Luc said. "Tillings for the apprentices and Tracts of Passages for everyone else."

"Well, except the Masters," Henri said with a grin.

"That goes without saying... or so I thought," Jean-Luc replied dryly. "How many apprentices do we have this time?"

"Deux. Xarles and Rosemarie. Xarles has been working under Sven," Theoren said and then grinned when Gambit winced. "Sven is not that bad. And Rosemarie's been working with Charlene."

"What do you think Remy?" asked Jean-Luc.

"Umm, I'm thinking 'what are we trying to teach Xarles by sticking him with Sven?'" Gambit replied.

"What kind of task do you think they would be best suited to do for their Tilling?" Jean-Luc said.

"Oh. I don't know. Steal something?"

"Y'know Père," Henri said with a grin. "I think Remy is under the assumption that we just pick these things out of a hat."

"Indeed," Jean-Luc said. "Sven, for all his faults, is brilliant with computers. I believe an interest in computers was one of the reasons why he accepted Xarles as his apprentice."

"Right," Theoren said, pushing forward and opening a folder. "If we look at his history, a lot of the jobs he did with Sven were computer oriented. Now we've got several jobs here involving the acquisition of data -"

"Wait a second," Gambit interrupted. "Do you rig the Tillings so that they'll pass?"

"Don't be absurd," Jean-Luc said with a frown. "We try to organise the Tillings so that the apprentice can demonstrate his strengths as well as his weaknesses. It's a rite of passage so it certainly shouldn't be _easy_, but neither should success be outside of the realm of possibilities."

Gambit accepted this and the three went through the potential jobs. Then Jean-Luc asked him to pick out a job for Rosemarie. He suspected that the three of them had already decided on which job they would pick for her, and this was just a test to see what he'd do. Evidentially, they were satisfied with his choice, for none of them contested it.

Deciding on the tests for the Tracts of Passage - the official name for rank progression within the Guild – was very much the same except that Jean-Luc, Henri and Theoren were not quite as interested in the Thieves doing jobs where their strengths lay. In fact, if anything the opposite seemed to be true, as Gambit observed almost a perverse pleasure in deliberately choosing jobs where they were weakest and taking them out of their comfort zones. But as Gambit well knew, second chances at the Tilling weren't lightly given out, whereas the Tracts of Passage was supposed to be tough, and the only penalty of failure - aside from the failing part - was that the Thief had to wait at least a year before they were allowed to try again.

"Wait a second," said Gambit. "My final test involved stealing a pendant off the daughter of a jewel thief. Seeing as how we're playing more to people's weaknesses than strengths with these..."

"Yeah, you did kind of rig that one in his favour, Père," said Henri.

"Had to," Jean-Luc replied. "You were supposed to marry Bella Donna when you turned eighteen and we couldn't have you still as an Expert rather than a Master. Besides, the point of making the Tracts of Passage difficult is to separate the mediocre from the great, and seeing how you act under pressure is one way of doing just that. It may have taken you deux years, mon fils, but you escaped from that madman who did those experiments on you on your own. If that's not proof of your ability to survive under pressure, I don't know what is."

"To say nothing of the fact that your lock picking and stealth had made a significant improvement," Henri said. "Which, quite frankly, as you were already rather good before you got abducted, is saying something."

Gambit laughed.

"All right then," said Jean-Luc. "I believe there's one more."

"Right," Theoren said. "Rogue."

"Rogue?" Gambit asked, looking at them with raised eyebrows. "Umm, I don't know if you've noticed this, but she's just had a baby not deux weeks ago... Now might not be the best time to give her a job."

"Just because she's a new mother doesn't make her useless," Jean-Luc said.

"I never said that. I just meant -"

"Don't worry, Remy," Theoren said with a wave of his hand. "We'll give her a nice open-ended job which she can complete at her convenience. You won't have to worry about those 2am feedings putting her off her game."

"Ahh, I remember 2am feedings," said Henri.

"Yeah?"

"Oui, I remember rolling over and prodding Mercy until she got up."

Theoren laughed.

"Now," said Jean-Luc. "We know that Rogue's strength is in identity fraud –"

"Of all varieties," Theoren said with a smirk.

"- so we should test her in another area," Jean-Luc finished.

"Not vehicle theft," said Henri. "She was working with Mercy on gemstones..."

"Let's make her do a B&E," said Theoren. "Something with low-key security."

"Household? That's about as low-key as it gets."

"Let's not insult the fille."

"Upper-class household," Jean-Luc said. "Some society femmes have quality imitations as well as the real thing. Some of them are even smart enough to keep them in a private safe when they're not wearing them."

"The femmes or their husbands?" Theoren asked with a smirk.

"Heh, you do wonder about how many brain cells they have sometimes," Henri said as he picked up the phone and hit the speed dial button for the Minister of Tome's office. "Linda, Henri here. We need a list of high society women who've had children in the last year. Merci."

"We do?" asked Gambit.

"What? You don't approve of stacking the deck?" Henri asked. "Besides, we're making this up on the fly. Helps to narrow down the choices a bit."

"Besides," said Theoren, "it's up to Rogue how she goes about this. There's more than one way to case the place than to take advantage of them both having kids under one."

* * *

"Something wrong, sugar?" Rogue asked, not looking up from Olivier who was busy getting another meal.

Gambit sighed and sat down beside her on the lounge. "Long day. 'Test day' as Père called it. We were deciding what tests the apprentices should do as their initiation, and the Thieves due for promotion should do to prove they earn one."

"Ahh."

Gambit was silent for a moment.

"Last one we talked about was yours," he admitted finally.

"Mine?" Rogue asked in surprise. "What? There's no such thing as maternity leave in the Thieves Guild?"

"Depending on what you're doing, kids can be an asset," Gambit replied. "Or don't you remember using your pregnancy to your advantage?"

"Hmm," was her non-committal reply.

"Anyway, officially I haven't told you anything," Gambit said and paused when Rogue snickered, "but there's not going to be a deadline or anything like that. And unlike your Tilling you don't need anyone to follow you around; you just need to report to your sponsor your progress as you go along."

"Who's my sponsor? You?"

"Probably. I just... I don't want you to feel pressured or anything."

"Why would I feel pressured?"

"Well, to get it done. I mean, because it is an important job, but Olivier's more important."

Rogue quirked an eyebrow at him. "You're not making some 'the woman's place is in the home' kind of insinuation here, are you?"

"What? No!" Gambit objected. "That's not what I meant at all. Okay, I don't know if you've noticed this, but Olivier's only deux weeks old and you've been breastfeeding him, so your sleeping patterns are out of whack again, and there's only so much I've been able to do to help and -"

Gambit stopped and stared when Rogue started laughing.

"You're right," she said, noting the perplexed expression on Gambit's face. "I haven't had to wake up at two in the morning since the diner. Which do you suppose is worse? Getting up multiple times during the night, or getting up once and having to go to work?"

"Roguey," he said with a slight smile, "I haven't got any objections to you having a career - never did - I just think that Olivier should be our priority right now and -"

"And I agree."

"And I don't want you to rush into this job either," Gambit said seriously. "As I said, no deadline. Well, no official deadline anyway."

Rogue laughed.

"Sometime before the end of the year would be ideal," he said with a slight smile. "I'd rather you took your time and did the job when you're ready to do it, rather than feeling like you _have _ to do it _now_, but be too tired from looking after Olivier and end up messing up."

"I promise I won't rush into it," Rogue said solemnly.

"That's all I ask."

"Are you done now, Olivier?" Rogue asked, turning head back to Olivier. "Aww sleepy boy."

"He's always sleepy," Gambit grumbled. "Is he ever awake?"

"Occasionally," Rogue replied in amusement.

* * *

Gambit was out shopping a couple of weeks later when he got the distinct feeling he was being watched. It wasn't 'sexy man turning a few heads' being watched either, which he quite enjoyed. No, there was an uncomfortable feeling about this one. After making a mental note to check with Theoren if Rogue had been taught the art of tailing yet (he didn't think so), Gambit continued about his business as if he hadn't sensed he was being watched. He hoped they were enjoying watching him buy baby supplies.

After buying what he needed (yes, he did actually purchase things on occasion), Gambit made his way out to his motorcycle. He took his time packing everything away in the motorcycle bags, at the same time doing a visual check of his ride for any signs of tampering and also tried to see if he could spot his mysterious watcher without giving away that he'd seen them. His motorcycle seemed fine, but he couldn't spy the watcher.

After a moment's consideration, Gambit got on and started his motorcycle. His gut told him it hadn't been tampered with and he'd long learned to trust his gut. Nevertheless, the feeling of trepidation stayed as he turned into traffic, and remained a few blocks later. Whoever was following him had obviously gotten into a car and was probably one of the vehicles behind him; a Chevrolet Impala, a Toyota Camry and a Maserati GranCabrio. No other motorcycles that he could see, but he kept an eye out for any all the same – personal experience told him it was easier to tail someone (and get away with it) while riding a motorcycle than driving a car.

He turned left at the next intersection and the Impala and the GranCabrio came with him. He turned left again, but both cars went straight ahead. Either they were both innocent, or one of them was familiar with tailing people. Gambit wasted no time debating, and instead used his motorcycle's speed, size and manoeuvrability to his advantage to cut through traffic and make sure that whichever driver it was that had been following him couldn't catch up with him again.

As soon as he was certain the danger had passed, Gambit made his way back home.

* * *

Rogue was asleep on the couch by the time Gambit returned and he grinned at the sight before scooping Olivier up out of his bouncer.

["Hey Olivier,"] he said. ["How you doing? Having a nice little rest were you? Come on, let's let Mama sleep for awhile, no? Is that a smile I see? Are you smiling at your Papa? I think you are!"]

Gambit grinned back at Olivier as he carried his son out of the room and into his own. It wasn't exactly a big beaming smile, more like the faintest hint of one, but still, that was more than what he'd been able to do a couple of weeks ago.

["What do you think, Oli? Little bit of jazz?"] Gambit said as he switched on the stereo. ["Ahh yes, the music of kings. You know, Oli, don't ever tell your grandfather I said this - or your uncle either for that matter - but if you were to ever decide you'd rather be a jazz musician than a thief, I wouldn't stand in your way. Of course... musicians don't make very much, so you'd probably have to take up stealing on the side anyway."]

Then Olivier started crying and a nasty smell hit Gambit's nostrils.

["No?"] Gambit asked as he high-tailed it to the changing table. ["You disapprove? Of course, you're quite right; as your loving father I should steal a record deal for you."]

Gambit's chuckle was interrupted by a grunt in protest of the odour and he dumped the nappy into the garbage as quickly as possible.

["How can something so smelly come out of someone so little?"] he asked. ["Ahh, Olivier. Don't tell your Mama, but someone was following me today. Our eyes give us lots of advantages, my son, but there's a price to pay; vigilance - bordering on the paranoid. I wish it was paranoia, I really do. But don't you worry, I'm going to keep you safe, and I'm going to make sure no one ever experiments on you like they did on me. I -"]

Gambit's speech was interrupted this time by Olivier deciding to urinate on the nice clean nappy he had just been about to put on him. Gambit rushed to get the front of the nappy in place before her could be hit with the spray and gave his month-old son a dry look.

["And I suppose that's what you think of my promises then, huh? So cynical for such a young age,"] Gambit said, reaching for another fresh one. ["Well, fine, if you're going to be that way about it, I'll just have to teach you how to look after yourself then."]

Olivier urinated again.

["You're going to piss all over that one too?"] Gambit demanded. ["Just how much does your Mama feed you?"]

"Just enough, I hope," Rogue said, feeling rather pleased that she'd actually understood the last thing he said.

Gambit looked over his shoulder and spotted Rogue leaning against the doorway.

"Oh hey chére," he said. "How long have you been there for?"

"Just arrived," she said with a slight yawn. "Having fun?"

"I was, until Oli decided he hadn't dirtied enough diapers today. Have a nice nap?"

"I didn't realise I was so tired. I can't wait until the 2am feedings are over."

"Neither can I," Gambit replied, "and I'm not even the one getting out of bed."

"I'm sure," Rogue replied drolly.

* * *

**AN: **There's a panel in the "silent" issue of X-Treme X-men wherein Gambit is walking down a crowded street and all the heads of the women are turned in his direction *giggles*


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: **

Gris Gris, Fifolet, Questa and Singer are all comic-canon. I read somewhere that Fifolet's first name is Marcus, but I don't actually recall reading this in any of the comics, so yeah. Likewise, there's nothing to say that he's actually the head of his clan or some such, assuming the Assassins even use clans at all. They really do have powers. Questa's first appearance was as a woman, but his second appearance was as a man. Gris Gris is 'First Kill'.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Claude completed the final test of his Tracts of Passage and became a Master Thief barely a month after he was given the assignment. They had a celebratory lunch the day of the official promotion, but afterwards, like any guy his age, Claude went out to celebrate with his friends. The very next day - after the hangover had worn off - Claude perused the Master-level jobs available and signed up for one of them.

"Told you, Maman," said Claude as he packed up his things. "I want to break the record for youngest Thief to make the Top Ten. I've got to get started."

"Oui, but is it necessary for you to go all the way to North Carolina?" Mercy asked, plaintively watching as her eldest baby shoved his clothes in his suitcase.

"That's where the job is," Claude replied.

"And why do you have to leave so soon?" she persisted. "You've been working so hard, you should stay for -"

"Maman, you _know_ why. I just told you why," Claude said irritably.

"Just because your oncle has set a few records doesn't mean you have to," Mercy said firmly. "Not that I wouldn't be proud of you if you did, but most Thieves never set any records and -"

"I don't want to be 'most Thieves'," Claude said, pausing in his packing just long enough to throw his mother a glare.

"No one wants to be 'most Thieves'," Mercy countered patiently. "I'm just saying that you've been working very hard and there's nothing wrong with staying home and relaxing for a little while before you take off."

"And now long is 'a little while' Maman?" Claude demanded. "Until I'm thirty?"

"The thought had occurred to me," she replied, only half joking.

"I'll be fine, really," Claude insisted as he zipped up his suitcase. "I have to leave sometime."

Mercy sighed. "I know, but that doesn't make it any easier."

Silence followed as Claude gathered up the last of his things he had to take.

"You sure you've packed enough clothes?" Mercy asked.

"Oui, Maman," Claude replied impatiently.

"And what about your toothbrush?"

"I was just about to get it."

"And you've got all your fake IDs?"

"Oui Maman," Claude said, sounding exasperated. "I'm not stupid."

"Of course not," Mercy said, paused and then asked: "Do you have enough underwear?"

"Oui!"

"Don't get impatient with me," Mercy said with a slight frown. "Oh, and if you decide to sneak into a club, don't forget condoms -"

"Mère!"

"Don't drink too much," Mercy went on blithely. "And don't forget to eat your vegetables."

* * *

Rogue officially received her first Tracts of Passage job when Olivier was six weeks old. When he went down for a nap and Rogue finally had some time to herself, she got on the computer and started researching her mark, Danielle Thibodeaux. She wanted to pull off this job without using her powers. Her powers made her a natural thief, but Rogue wanted to prove that she had the skill to go with the talent.

It didn't take long before Rogue developed a good deal of disdain for the woman; a daddy's girl, married two years with a seven month old child. She went to college but - as far as Rogue could tell - never actually worked a day in her life. Rogue was going to enjoy ripping her off.

Over the weeks that followed, whenever she had a spare moment, Rogue continued her background research on her mark. Rogue was delighted when she found out that her mark was on Facebook. Although she had setup certain privacy settings, Rogue noticed that Farmville was advertised on her main page as one of the applications she used. Rogue created a dummy account and then messaged her with a request to be neighbours in Farmville. Only a couple of hours later, Rogue had been added as a friend. To top things off, she was also a frequent updater on Twitter, providing Rogue with a mildly entertaining and convenient way of keeping tabs on her.

Danielle's favourite topic was her daughter, Kayla, and quickly became Rogue's too. Many was the time when Danielle would tell everyone what Kayla had just done, or said, or gotten another tooth and Rogue would look over at Olivier with anticipation of the days when he would start talking and teething. Her mark's second favourite topic was her maid, whom she seemed to enjoy complaining about. Her husband got an occasional mention, but nothing really telling.

Rogue had completed her background research the best as she could by the time Olivier was three months old and finally sleeping through most of the night. It had been a rather time-consuming and tiresome method of learning about someone, but different and even refreshing from her usual MO, which involved absorbing them.

The next phase involved actually seeing the house and preferably getting into the house in order to case the place before the actual robbery. Being in a residential area, there were no security cameras in the vicinity for her to hack into, so an actual physical appearance was required.

"So, what's the plan then?" asked Gambit.

"Well, she drops Kayla off at day care on Thursdays so she can go to the country club with her little friends," Rogue said. "As far as I can tell, her maid – whom she never even bothers to name – has the day off. She's out of the house anyway. Her husband's usually at work, so Thursdays would be a good day for the break in. I just need to find out what security I have to bypass."

"And how were you planning on doing that?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

Gambit chuckled.

"I'd like to get in there, or at least get a camera in there and have a look around," Rogue said. "It's a family home so I doubt there's anything earth shattering but that doesn't mean I couldn't still trigger an alarm."

Gambit grinned at her. Rogue rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't asking for suggestions," she said. "I know I'm supposed to do this on my own."

"I'm just wondering if you're going to decide to absorb her after all," Gambit said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"It's the method of last resort," Rogue replied primly. "If I take short cuts all the time, I won't learn anything."

* * *

"I didn't realise this was 'Take Your Children to Work Day' today," said Henri as he stepped into the office and noticed Olivier in Gambit arms.

["It's always take your children to work day,"] Gambit replied, not looking up from feeding Olivier one of the bottles of breast milk Rogue had previously organised. ["You and I are here with our father, aren't we?"]

Jean-Luc laughed.

"Where's Rogue?" Henri asked as he sat down.

["She's busy casing her current job."]

"Ahh, right. No babies allowed huh?"

["Wouldn't want to attract any unnecessary attention."]

["Indeed,"] said Jean-Luc, his hands steepled as he sat back in his chair. ["Now, we've received word from the Assassins that Marcus Fifolet has taken over as clan leader."]

["Belle's sure going through those clan leaders,"] Gambit mused. ["That's been what? The third Clan leader she's disposed of in less than a year."]

["Fourth,"] Henri said. ["And the sixth council member, including First Kill and Minister of Tome."]

["I'm getting the impression she's kind of mad,"] Gambit said gleefully.

["Mad's putting it lightly,"] Henri said. ["She's obviously well aware she's making enemies and had stopped caring... Why _are_ we speaking in French?"]

["Oli needs to learn,"] Gambit said.

["Oh, right. What was I saying?"]

["Belle not caring about making enemies."]

["Right. She's basically doing everything within her power to remove Marius' council, excepting any allies she might have within that group, short of walking into the council room with an automatic machine gun,"] Henri said seriously. ["She's exposing all sorts of embarrassing secrets and controversial decisions. My contact isn't sure if this is information she's picked up out of the archives – the Minister of Tome was the first one to go after First Kill – or if it's things she picked up on her own. Or both."]

["Probably both, knowing Belle,"] said Gambit.

["Fifolet left voluntarily though,"] said Henri. ["Well... theoretically he could have been blackmailed, but as the Assassins usually consider that to be a Thief thing, it's unlikely. It's more likely that he saw the way the wind was blowing and decided to get out while the going was good. Don't know how many will follow his example, but at the current rate, Bella Donna should have a whole new council in two years."]

["You'd think they'd know better than to make her mad,"] Gambit said with a snicker as he pulled away the now-empty bottle.

["And of the general populace of the Guild?"] Jean-Luc inquired.

["There's a lot of division, but it's hard to say which way it's going to go,"] Henri said. ["It's not just who likes the members of the old council, and who allies themselves with Bella Donna; just about everyone in the Guild is being directly affected by the changing positions, and there's also a number of people within our generation who are... who object to her decision to rescind Remy's exile."]

["Knew that,"] said Gambit while he rubbed Olivier's back in an effort to burp him.

["The only people whose allegiances I can be sure of are Bella Donna's core group of friends,"] said Henri. ["Gris Gris, Fifolet - Marcus that is - Questa and Singer."]

["Okay Gris Gris and Fifolet I know,"] Gambit said. ["Questa and Singer ring a bell but I can't quite place them."]

["I think Singer joined after you left N'Orleans,"] Henri said. ["Don't know too much about her. Got black hair, can fly, has some kind of message channelling power thing."]

["Message channelling? She wouldn't happen to be your contact, would she, Henri?"] Jean-Luc asked.

["Yeah, right,"] Henri replied with a snort. ["As if one of Bella Donna's best friends is going to talk behind her back to Thieves. Now, Questa you'd probably remember as this silver-haired teenager."]

Gambit snapped his fingers.

["That's right,"] he said. ["Can't she do some sort of... pseudo shape-shifting thing?"]

["Yeah, she manipulated synaptic signals or something to make you see things that aren't there. So, more illusions? I don't know all the details."]

["I'd doubt they'd be inclined to give them. What's she up to these days anyway?"]

["Well, for one thing she's now a man with black hair."]

Gambit blinked. ["Sex change, huh?"]

["Either that, or it's more of that pseudo shape-shifting going on,"] Henri said.

"Hmm," Gambit said. ["Fifolet can go intangible, can't he? And Gris Gris is still into the voodoo?"]

["Yes."]

["Well, I don't think we have too much to worry about from the Assassins at this point,"] said Jean-Luc. ["Their troubles are internal and as such are unlikely to spill out onto us at this time. Now, onto more pressing matters..."]

["Right,"] said Henri, and just as he was about to move on, stopped and glanced at Olivier with a merry twinkle in his eye. ["You know Remy, technically, Oli shouldn't be here. I mean, he's not even a Master Thief, let alone a council member. These are sensitive matters we're talking about here, and he's a potential security leak."]

Gambit was about to retort with something scathing, when Olivier chose that moment to burp. Milk was spat over the small towel which was laid over Gambit's shoulder closest to Henri. Henri cleared his throat and Gambit merely looked at him.

["And that's all Oli has to say about the matter,"] said Gambit.

* * *

Olivier stayed home with Tante Mattie that night while the LeBeaus went out to dinner to celebrate Gambit's 40th birthday. It occurred to Rogue as they walked into the restaurant that this was the first time she'd gone out to dinner with the family; all the special occasions so far had been celebrated at home.

"We have a reservation for LeBeau," said Henri as he approached the host.

"Oui, of course, we've been expecting you," the host replied quickly, not even checking his book. "Right this way. We have a private room set aside for you."

Rogue raised an eyebrow as they followed the host to their private room. If she didn't know better, she'd say he was afraid. Although... Gambit wasn't wearing his sunglasses tonight, so maybe he was (if that was the case though, she had nothing but disdain and contempt for the little coward). The room was quite elegant and came with a magnificent view of the Big Easy. There were already menus on the table and the host assured them that a waitress would be around soon to get their order, before hurriedly departing.

The menus were passed around and the first few minutes were spent more or less in silence with, what little conversation there was focused on the meal ahead of them. Before too long the waitress arrived and she looked just as nervous as the host had been. Given that Gambit had his face in the menu at the time, Rogue came to the conclusion that whatever had the staff on edge didn't have anything to do with her husband's sexy eyes.

Rogue had to admit, she loved being with the LeBeaus. Marriage aside, they actually felt like family to her, even more so than the X-men had. She felt like she really and truly belonged. It was wonderful. Now if only the insidious voice - unrelated to her psyches - in the back of her mind would quit whispering to her about how it was all going to blow up in her face, she'd be happy.

Dinner was uneventful. The waitress was friendly, polite and stopped being quite so nervy partway through the evening. After the main course, the waitress and two other staff members came in with a chocolate birthday cake, the words 'Happy 40th Remy' written on top. They'd started to put it in front of Henri, and Rogue grinned at the surprised looks on their faces when Henri directed them to Gambit instead. He looked more late twenties than forty. The staff sang 'Happy Birthday' and then departed while the cake was cut up and served out.

Later, when the bill arrived, Rogue picked it up and wrote in what she deemed a good tip for the waitress. Henri grinned at her as she passed it back.

"Don't trust me to give her a good tip?" he asked when he realised what she did.

"I know what it's like to have to live off your tips," Rogue replied.

"What? We're paying for this?" asked Jean-Luc. "I thought we were going to do a runner."

Henri laughed. His father hadn't 'done a runner' in years.

"And just how were you planning on doing that, old man?" asked Mercy. "Climb out the window?"

"Why not?" asked Jean-Luc. "Remy can open it for us."

Gambit laughed. "I don't know, Père. Some of these guys seem a little... anxious. I bet we could just walk out without paying and no one would try and stop us."

"Forget that," said Mercy. "I want to see Jean-Luc get out the window to the ground floor without breaking a hip."

"Bite your tongue," said Jean-Luc with a frown.

Rogue laughed and Henri pointed his finger at Gambit.

"I actually want to try that walking out thing, there's just one problem," Henri said.

"What's that?" asked Gambit.

"They already have credit card details – they needed a deposit on the room."

"So... they could just let us walk out, and then charge us later?"

"Oui."

"That's a bummer."

"We'll have to try it some other time."

"And then come back again and see if they bring it up or even let us dine."

"I like this scheme."

* * *

"How was he?" Rogue asked Tante Mattie when they returned.

"Good," Tante Mattie replied. "I just not five minutes ago put him to bed."

"Great. Thanks so much for looking after Oli, Tante."

"My pleasure, child," Tante Mattie replied. "And how was dinner?"

"Good," Rogue said.

"Their chef has nothing on you," Gambit added with a grin.

"Hmph. Charmer," Tante Mattie replied.

She patted his cheek and then departed. After checking in on Olivier, Rogue and Gambit headed to bed.

"I can't believe it's been a whole year," Gambit said as he wrapped up Rogue in his arms. "A whole year since my exile got lifted. You know, Roguey, for the longest time I despaired of that ever happening. And now look at me. I'm back in N'Orleans. I've got you and Oli. Life is good."

Rogue smiled, remembering that it was only a few months ago he'd been freaking out because 'his life was over'. Those words had stuck with her, floating to the top of her mind at all the worst moments.

"Are you happy then?" she asked.

Gambit kissed her forehead. "Very happy."

"Even though you're in line to be the next Patriarch?"

"You know something, chére? If having a desk job is the price I have to pay for all of this... I think I can deal with that."

Rogue laughed softly and snuggled into him.

"I'm glad you feel that way," she said.

"What about you?" he asked. "Are you happy?"

Rogue was silent and Gambit lifted her head with two fingers under her chin. "Chére?"

"I think so," she said finally.

"You think so?"

"Yeah well... I am. Everything is going well. I have a family. I... I guess I just keep thinking everything's too good to be true and it's all going to blow up in my face."

"If I let a card blow up in your face, will that make you feel better?"

Rogue laughed.

"I think," she said, "I just need some time to get used to everything being this good."

"Not going to happen, chére," Gambit said gravely.

"Oh?"

"Oui. Sooner or later, Oli's going to grow up and we're going to have a teenager on our hands."

Rogue laughed again and Gambit grinned at her.

"So Roguey," he said slyly. "I don't happen to have another birthday present do I?"

"Umm, no..."

"You sure? I don't have one more present?"

"I'm pretty sure you got all of them earlier, Swamp Rat."

"Not even a sexy present?"

Rogue smirked at him as she cottoned onto what he was referring to.

"Oh you want a sexy present, huh?" she asked coyly.

Gambit grinned mischievously at her.

"Well," she said. "I'm sure I can arrange something."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

At half past ten on Thursday morning a couple of weeks later, Rogue pulled up outside of the Thibodeaux home. The week previous she'd gone up and down the street pretending to be collecting donations to raise money for SIDS research. This not only helped her to identify which homes were more likely to have people in them at this time of day, but also gave her a close enough glimpse of the inside of her mark's home to reveal that there was a security keypad next to the door. This meant that there would be some kind of motion detectors and potentially video surveillance when they were triggered. She had also done a few drive-bys in different vehicles and figured out which car belonged to the maid. The cars belonging to the Mr and Mrs were housed in the garage. The maid's car wasn't parked in front like it usually was when she was there, so Rogue knew that the house was empty.

The view of the front door from the street was obscured, so Rogue didn't have to worry about being seen picking the locks. Guild tech let her disable the security system without triggering any motion or tamper sensors. This done, Rogue made her way upstairs and located the main bedroom. Given that no one was expected home for hours, Rogue didn't rush, although she didn't dawdle either. It was easy enough to locate where her mark kept the bulk of her jewellery – in the jewellery box on her dresser. Rogue located a safe in the wardrobe and dusted the numbers on the lock. Five buttons came up more or less clean, so Rogue knew those were the ones that got used the most. What's more, the numbers matched the numbers that made up the Thibodeaux's wedding anniversary. After a quick check to make sure it wasn't hard-wired into the wall or anything, Rogue punched in the most likely combination of numbers and got it on the first try. There was more than one way around these things, but sometimes the simplest approach was best.

Upon opening the safe, Rogue located only a couple more pieces of jewellery. There was also, amongst other things, a wad of cash. Rogue tossed up taking the money as well, but her instructions only said jewellery and Gambit had warned her about the perils of being greedy. She tucked the jewellery away with the rest of it, closed the safe and cleaned up the dust just enough so that no one would notice it looking either too dusty or not dusty enough. She departed the house then, making sure to re-enable the security system on her way out.

By the time Rogue got back home she was quite giddy with excitement and the only thing that kept her from pouncing on Gambit was the fact that he was busy playing with Olivier.

"I did it!" she said gleefully.

"Yeah?" Gambit asked, his eyes still on Olivier. "Did you sort and label the jewellery?"

"Well, no, not yet - I only just got back."

"Then you haven't done it yet, have you?"

"Oh, psh you."

Gambit just laughed.

* * *

Gambit felt like the only time he got out of the Guild Hall these days was to stock up on nappies and baby wipes and the like. The commute to work every day might be non-existent, but he was starting to go a little stir crazy. He definitely wasn't used to staying in one place this long.

He parked his motorcycle in the only space left in the parking lot, next to a GranCabrio with its top up. Gambit smirked as he passed, momentarily considering how easy it would be to take off with the convertible, and continued on his way inside the store. As he went through the automatic doors, Gambit walked past an older, grey-haired gentleman, easily in his sixties, who looked vaguely familiar, but that brief moment of passing wasn't enough to make a proper identification.

Gambit quickly forgot about him as he headed down the aisle with all the baby products. He grabbed what he needed and a couple of things he wasn't sure of but figured they'd probably need and then headed to the checkout. No point shoplifting from a place he was only going to return to, although given the number of checkouts they had open - or _didn't_ have open - shoplifting probably would have been faster. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly in a rush to return to the Guild Hall either.

Finally out of the store, Gambit dawdled back to his motorcycle. He opened his carry bags and managed to stuff the nappies in one side and everything else in the other. As he was doing this, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was so small that it was a wonder his peripheral vision had even caught it at all: his brake line had been cut. What's more, whoever had done it knew what they were doing. They knew exactly how to cover up a cut brake line. If he hadn't been familiar with motorcycle engines or the methods of Assassins, there's no way he would have seen through it.

Gambit swore to himself as he pulled out his phone and dialled Henri's number. Gris Gris had warned him that some of the Assassins weren't happy with Bella Donna's decision about lifting his exile. He never should have let an Assassin get this close.

"Henri? Need a favour," Gambit said. "Can you pick me up?"

"Pick you up?" asked Henri. "From where?"

Gambit told him, but just told him to bring a pickup and hung up when Henri asked him why. There was no way Gambit was going to start telling people that Assassins were out to get him; they'd just make him stay in the Guild Hall all the time. He would, however, start varying which stores he went to from now on. Obviously he'd been noticed going to the same store all the time and someone had been waiting for him.

* * *

Gambit was silent when he walked into the living room after Henri had picked him up. In the end all he had told his brother was that the brake line was busted and he needed to replace it. Rogue was on the computer with the baby monitor on the desk beside her. She looked up as he came in.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Gambit replied. "I put everything in Oli's room."

"Okay," she paused and looked at him curious. "You all right?"

"Oui, I'm fine," he said. "Whatcha doing?"

"Something stupid probably," Rogue admitted with a sigh as she looked back at the screen. "Just looking at Danielle's twitter."

"Danielle?" Gambit asked as he moved to look over her shoulder.

"Thibodeaux," she said. "My mark."

"Oh right. Well, that's not necessarily stupid, since you have a way of doing it discreetly," Gambit said. "It's a way of checking up on yourself to make sure you got away clean."

"Yeah... I don't think I have to worry about getting caught," Rogue said, sounding glum.

Gambit regarded her curiously for a moment.

"That's a good thing," he said finally.

"Yeah I know," she said with a sigh. "I guess... I just feel bad. I mean, she didn't call the cops straight away - "

"Also a good thing."

"- because she thought that her husband had stolen her jewellery," Rogue said, pointing to the latest entries, "and given them to his girlfriend."

"Oooh, convenient scapegoat. Nice."

"Remy, she's really upset," Rogue said, sounding rather distressed herself. "Apparently they hadn't had much of a sex life since Kayla was born 'cause she hasn't been feeling very sexy or whatever and he's gone elsewhere and she was trying to pretend like nothing was going on, except now he's stolen - or she thinks he's stolen - her jewellery and she's packed up her things and taken Kayla and gone back to her parents. Which on the one hand kinda makes me want to roll my eyes at her being such a Daddy's girl, but the point is she's left him and she's talking about divorce, and of course he's denying doing any such thing and -"

"You're right, chérie," Gambit said. "You did make a mistake: You got personally involved."

Rogue was silent as she looked down at the keyboard. "I just... I just don't like the idea of being responsible for someone's marriage failing."

"Chére, unless you're the one he was having an affair with - in which case we've got problems - you can't possibly be responsible for their marriage failing," Gambit said firmly. "They were already having problems well before we got involved."

"I guess," Rogue reluctantly conceded.

"If one robbery is enough to split a couple up, then they probably didn't have a good relationship in the first place," Gambit said. "Don't feel bad, Roguey. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Well, other than, you know, _breaking into their house_ and _stealing_ from them," Rogue pointed out dryly.

"You're not developing a conscience now, are you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I always had a conscience. It just got buried when I started stealing for survival, vengeance and sport."

Gambit chuckled, wrapped his arms around her from behind the chair and kissed her cheek.

"It can still be fun," he assured her. "Just go back to thinking of them as 'marks' rather than by their names. You start calling them by their names and that's when you start thinking of them as people. Once you start thinking of them as people, it gets personal and you start to do what you're doing now; sympathising with them. If you can't emotionally detach yourself from your victims, then you'll never rob anyone."

"Unless you hate them."

"Unless you hate them, oui."

* * *

"And do you, Remy, as sponsor, agree that Rogue completed her test with the competency of anyone of Journeyman rank?" asked Jean-Luc.

Rogue was standing in the council room with Gambit standing next to her. Jean-Luc was behind his desk while Henri and Theoren stood on either side. Behind Rogue were a couple of other councillors and lookers on. On Jean-Luc's desk was the jewellery she had stolen, neatly labelled, sorted, and on display.

"Oui, I do," Gambit confirmed solemnly.

"Then it is with pleasure that I declare Rogue is no longer Novice, but Journeyman Thief," Jean-Luc said.

Mild applause followed as Jean-Luc presented Rogue with a new, quality grappling hook; the symbol of her new rank. Great, now she just had to learn how to use it.

* * *

"Aside from the job requirement," Theoren said to Rogue as they walked down the hall a couple of days later, "there are three trials you have to complete before you do the final test. If you fail any of the trials, you can retake whenever you want, even the same day, _but_, for every fail you have to pass twice. So, if you fail five times, you have to succeed ten times."

"Wow," said Rogue. "That could get tedious."

Theoren chuckled. "That it does. Still, good incentive to practice beforehand."

"Why do you have to succeed twice if you fail?" Rogue asked as she followed Theoren around the corner.

"Because if you fail five times, and succeed once, the 'once' could be a fluke," Theoren replied. "We have standards to uphold and that means proving that you have the skill to do the work. The three trials are picking locks with your mouth, stealth and..."

Rogue looked at Theoren expectantly as he opened up a nearby door and flicked a switch on the wall inside, right next to the door. The empty room lit up with a series of red beams.

"The obstacle course," Theoren said with a hint of smugness in his tone. "This room was designed so that we can change the configuration. You'll be assigned one configuration to study. In the event that you fail, we can assign you different configurations for your second and third attempts, and so on. Obviously for the test itself, you won't be able to see the beams; these are just for demonstration purposes."

Rogue nodded as Thoeren closed the door.

"When you're ready," he said, "just ask me for the first config sheet. Take as long as you need to study it."

"Okay," Rogue said. "Uhh, what's the stealth test like?"

"Walking across the ballroom floor in tap shoes," Theoren replied. "There's good acoustics in there, so we will hear you."

"That's encouraging," Rogue muttered, not at all looking forward to the prospect.

Theoren chuckled.

"There's no rush," he assured her. "It's not like you're one of the kids who grew up in the Guild who've been training their entire lives and take it as a matter of pride to get their Mastery as quickly as possible."

Rogue grinned at him.

"Like you?" she asked mischievously.

"Oui, moi, Henri, Remy, Etienne, Emil... the lot of us," Theoren said, grinning. "For someone with very little prior training, you're doing very well."

"Thank you."

* * *

That evening, at the isolated Boudreaux Mansion:

"... and tomorrow I need the final roster for the Cortez job," Bella Donna was saying to Gris Gris as they walked down the hallway.

"You'll have it," Gris Gris replied. "There are only a couple of minor details to work out, but otherwise we're good to go."

"Bon," Bella Donna said as she stopped outside her bedroom door. "Bonne nuit, Gris Gris."

"Good night," Gris Gris answered with an incline of his head.

Gris Gris turned as Bella Donna put her hand on the door handle and began to walk back down the hall when he heard Bella Donna swear. He turned back to see Bella Donna looking through the open doorway with a shocked expression on her face.

"Belle?" he inquired.

Bella Donna didn't answer, but she didn't have to as Gris Gris looked for himself and saw one of their new council members, Jason Moreau, most recent leader of the Moreau clan, lying gutted in the middle of Bella Donna's bed. Perhaps for the first time in her life, Bella Donna wanted to be sick; the sight of this much blood didn't usually phase her, but that much blood didn't usually belong to one of her friends either.

"Merde," Gris Gris hissed under his breath. "Who...?"

"Who, Gris Gris? I'd say that any member of the former council is a strong contender," Bella Donna replied, trying to sound professional.

"He and his père were close though," Gris Gris said, unable to tear his eyes away from the body. "Do you really think he'd..."

"Right now, we can't rule out anyone. Now, let's see... who do we have that's fond of eviscerating?"

* * *

"Dead?" Gambit repeated, staring at Henri in horror the following afternoon.

"Oui," Henri replied gravely from his usual chair in Jean-Luc's office.

"Do they know who?" Jean-Luc asked, leaning on his desk.

"If they have any firm suspects, my contact didn't know," Henri replied. "But I think we can figure out a pretty long list ourselves; Bella Donna has been making a lot of enemies with her council rearrangements."

"And why leave the body on her bed?" asked Gambit. "Was she and Moreau having a thing or something?"

"I have no idea if they were in a relationship," Henri told Gambit seriously. "More likely it was a power play; they were telling Bella Donna that she's not untouchable by leaving the body in a place of personal sanctity."

"I guess that makes sense," Gambit said. "So, stupid question; how's Belle taking it?"

"You're right, that is a stupid question," Henri said with a slight smirk. "Like she'd ever give the enemy a sign that they'd gotten to her."

"And the Moreau clan leadership?" asked Jean-Luc.

"Not sure what's happening with that yet," Henri said. "But that's something for the Moreau clan to decide and I think Jason's children are all under-age, so I couldn't even give you an educated guess."

"I should call Belle –" Gambit began.

"Non!" Jean-Luc objected sternly.

"But –" Gambit attempted to interject.

"It's none of our business," Jean-Luc said firmly. "It's an internal Guild matter and it's not our place to get involved."

"Belle's my friend," Gambit insisted.

"And she has plenty of other friends who aren't political dynamite," Jean-Luc said. "We will send a letter of condolences and that is it, understood? The last thing Bella Donna needs to deal with right now is being seen or heard talking to you. Any Thief for that matter, but especially you, Remy."

"Père's right, Remy," Henri said gently. "The best thing we can do to help her right now is not getting involved. Unless of course... we are already involved?"

Gambit returned Henri's inquisitive look with an innocent expression of his own.

"Why Henri," he said drolly, "whatever could you be suggesting?"

"Not suggesting anything," Henri replied. "Just saying that if we have any reason to believe that the Assassins' internal matter might spill out onto the Thieves... well, that _is_ why we're discussing the matter in the first place."

"Spill out, hein? Like Assassins getting into fights with Thieves?" Gambit asked.

"A certain amount of that is normal, but it doesn't usually get too violent," Henri said, regarding his brother seriously. "An escalation in violence, Assassins trying to kill Thieves, that's exactly the kind of thing I'd like to know about, and it's also something Bella Donna should know."

"Well, fortunately," Gambit said with the appearance of complete self-satisfaction, "I can say that I haven't heard of any Assassins trying to kill Thieves in, well, years actually. A couple of decades even."

"Good to know."

Jean-Luc hid his interest at his sons' conversation. After the meeting finished, Jean-Luc waited until Gambit departed and then caught Henri's arm.

"What was that about before?" he asked. "About Assassins killing Thieves?"

Henri glanced towards the closed office door, then back at Jean-Luc and lowered his voice:

"I think someone tried to knock off Remy," Henri said. "The other day when I had to pick him up because the brake line had broken? Yeah, I got a look at the brake line; it had been severed."

Jean-Luc was silent for a moment.

"You think one of the Assassins..." he began and trailed off, not really wanting to finish the sentence.

"You know Remy," Henri said with a sigh. "I can't get him to admit that there was anything fishy about it. I do know that there are a number of Assassins – Bella Donna's age group and up – who didn't approve of her decision to rescind Remy's exile. I have reason to believe – especially in this current climate – that some of them might decide to... you know."

Once again Jean-Luc fell to silence. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, a slight frown on his face. Henri waited expectantly.

"Keep him in the Guild Hall," Jean-Luc said finally. "Don't let him leave until this blows over."

"There's no telling how long that will take, Père," Henri pointed out. "And you know how stir crazy he's been getting. He actually looks forward to going out and buying baby wipes, for goodness sake."

"Well, we're going to find someone else to do that," Jean-Luc said firmly. "We should try and keep Rogue here too, unless she's going out of the state for a job or something. I doubt she would be considered a priority target, but let's not get sloppy."

"Right."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It didn't take Gambit very long to figure out what Henri was up to. All of a sudden, every time he needed to go to the store, Henri would find something for him to do and Mercy would be conveniently on her way out. Neither did it take much brain power to figure out why. Initially, he was very much annoyed, but Gambit, never being one to pass up a challenge and having precious few of them lately, quickly turned the situation into a kind of game.

First, Gambit started by simply not informing anyone when he was going out. He would just leave at his whim, sometimes for the sole purpose of leaving. Henri countered by setting up meetings with different people at any time of day he pleased with varying levels of notice.

When Henri started filling up his days, Gambit decided he needed to start sneaking out at night.

"Umm, Remy," Rogue said when she saw him preparing to go out the window in their lounge room, "you are aware that just out that door and down the hall, there's an elevator, right?"

"Oui," Gambit replied cheerfully. "It's more fun this way."

"Uh huh," she said drolly. "Where are you going anyway?"

"Just going to get some fresh air really," Gambit replied with a shrug. "I'm tired of being cooped up."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Rogue replied, her eyes back on Olivier while he played with the mobile above his head.

It was only at the sound of Rogue's weary voice that it occurred to Gambit that she might be feeling the same way.

"In fact, I feel weird saying this," Rogue went on, oblivious to Gambit's thoughtful silence, "but I'm actually looking forward to Wanda and John's wedding more as a chance for a change of scenery than, you know, actually celebrating them getting married."

Gambit laughed.

"When is their wedding anyway?" he asked.

"Beginning of October," Rogue replied. "The fifth or something. I forget the exact date."

"Right, we'll have to make sure we get hotel reservations -"

"Already done," Rogue said smugly and then gave Gambit a mischievous smirk. "I got us a room with a spa in it."

"I like it already," he replied. "Anyway, I'm going to go. Can I get you anything?"

"A surprise," Rogue said after a moment's pause.

Gambit chuckled. "I'll see what I can do."

He climbed out the window, down the wall and made his way to the garage where his motorcycle was. He drove into town, no particular destination in mind, with his head full of thoughts about Rogue. In between looking after Olivier and being tortured - sorry, _trained_ - by Henri, he felt like he never left the Guild Hall. But Rogue was in the same situation; in between looking after Olivier and her own thief training, she felt like she never left either. Now that he thought about it, it was like he hardly ever saw Rogue these days. He'd definitely have to do something about that. Hell, if it weren't for Olivier, he would have asked her to join him in sneaking out.

Gambit parked and wandered along the street, doing a little window shopping.

It wasn't like they were short of baby-sitters, so in theory Gambit could ask any one of the volunteers to mind Olivier while he and Rogue had a night out. In practice, Gambit rather suspected that Henri wouldn't be beneath using Olivier against him if it meant keeping him in.

Gambit sighed as he gazed idly at a display of new release DVDs. There was no reason to worry about Assassins being out to get him; as long as there was no discernible pattern to his movements, any further attacks would be opportunistic ones, and Gambit was confident that he could see one coming a mile away. It wasn't like he didn't have practice.

He hadn't told Rogue what was going on. Rogue did do her own share of risk-taking, so there was a chance she'd see where he was coming from, but ultimately he didn't want to worry her.

He definitely needed to find a way to get them both out of the house though. October was three months away and that was a long time for them to be stuck inside 24/7.

Eventually, Gambit got bored with his wanderings and made his way home. For Rogue he had bought a box of chocolates with a teddy bear attached; she had asked for a surprise, after all, and the last thing she would expect was for him to _add_ to her teddy bear collection.

He made no secret of his return home either; when Gambit arrived in the LeBeau wing of the mansion he made sure Henri knew he'd gone out.

* * *

Gambit could hear Olivier's fussing first thing in the morning over the baby monitor. There was a groan on the other side of the bed, and then a dramatic sigh as Rogue reluctantly hauled herself out of bed. Just as Gambit was thinking he'd be able to catch some more sleep, he heard Rogue's voice over the baby monitor, talking to Olivier. He pulled the pillow over his head in an attempt to drown out the noise, but finally gave up, got out of the bed and dressed.

Gambit wandered into Olivier's room, where Rogue was now seated on a lounge chair with Olivier. Olivier had been moved into his own room when he started sleeping through the night – or at least most of it. That didn't stop him from requiring breakfast at six in the morning, though.

"Bonjour, ma chérie," he said after a brief yawn.

"Morning, sugar," Rogue replied.

"I see he's happy," Gambit said with a nod towards Olivier.

"Yeah," she drawled.

Gambit chuckled lightly and then knelt down to the side of the chair, resting his arms on the arm.

"I was thinking, chére," he said, "you and I haven't really been having much alone time lately. What do you think about going out tonight? I'm sure Mercy wouldn't mind looking after Olivier for us."

Rogue turned her head and looked at Gambit, a slow smile appeared on her face.

"I'd like that," she said.

"Bon," Gambit said.

He thought he knew just how to get around Henri too.

* * *

"... and we were hoping you wouldn't mind looking after Oli for us," Gambit finished saying hopefully to Mercy.

He was fairly confident that Mercy was in on Henri's scheme to keep him at home, and judging from the flicker of 'deer caught in headlights' that crossed Mercy's face, he was right.

"Well," Mercy said, "I think that it's a good idea for you two to try and make some alone time, important, even, but –"

"We already have plans for tonight," Henri cut in.

"Ahh," Gambit said, knowing full well that by 'already' Henri really meant 'just now', "well, I'll just see if Tante Mattie's free, then."

"I'll look after him," said Jean-Luc.

All heads at the breakfast table turned to look at him.

"Père?" Henri queried.

"Que? You think I can't take care of a baby?" Jean-Luc asked. "I raised you, didn't I?"

"Merci, Père," Gambit said while Henri coughed uncomfortably.

Jean-Luc inclined his head. "Where were you planning on going tonight? Anywhere in particular?"

"Non, hadn't decided yet," Gambit replied.

Jean-Luc took it upon himself to make a couple of recommendations and breakfast carried on as normal. The family finished their meal, and one by one started to leave until only Jean-Luc and Henri were left.

"I thought you didn't want Remy leaving," Henri said quietly.

"I don't," Jean-Luc replied, "but since he's stubbornly refusing to take the hint or even discuss the matter, then he shall be going out on our terms, not his. By the way, I do hope you were lying when you told him that you and Mercy had plans tonight."

"Not any more, I'm guessing."

Jean-Luc chuckled.

* * *

That night, Rogue and Gambit arrived via motorcycles at one of the casual dress, fine dining restaurants in the city. Gambit had rung up earlier that day to reserve a table just to make sure they had one. Their waiter had not long left them at the table with the menus when Gambit noticed Henri and Mercy sitting at another table halfway across the room. He groaned.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"Henri and Mercy are here," Gambit said.

"Really?" she asked. "That's quite the coincidence."

"Yeah... coincidence," he muttered.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Something bothering you?"

Gambit paused and then came to the conclusion that there was no real point to keeping her in the dark at this point. Besides, Rogue liked to play games too.

"Henri's gotten all over-protective 'cause he thinks the Assassins are out to kill me," he said. "He's been making it difficult for me to get out of the house."

"You'd think he'd know better than to issue you a challenge," Rogue replied as she perused the menu. "Question: _Are_ the Assassins out to get you?"

"Probably," Gambit said with a shrug. "But I'm not going to hole up inside all the time like some frightened little mouse."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would they be out to get you?" Rogue asked.

"Ahh, some of them don't agree with Belle's decision to lift my exile," Gambit said with a wave of his hand. "Henri's worried someone might defy her on the matter."

Rogue nodded in thoughtful silence.

"Okay then," she said finally.

"Okay?" he repeated with a blink of his eyes as he looked at her. "You're okay with people trying to kill me?"

"Of course not," Rogue said. "If one of them so much as looks at you funny, I'm going to wring their scrawny little neck."

Gambit laughed and Rogue grinned at him.

"Come on, sugar," she said. "You're talking to someone who used to hang out with people she knew would kill her if they found out she was a mutant. Besides, I know you. You might be a risk taker, but that doesn't automatically make you stupid."

"Not automatically?" he asked teasingly.

"Nah, your stupidity makes you stupid," she replied with a smirk. "If you're not worried, then I'm not worried."

He chuckled.

"Well, good," Gambit said. "At least someone has faith in my ability to take care of myself."

Rogue smiled and went back to reading the menu. Truth be told, she wasn't nearly as comfortable with the news as she pretended, but if Henri was worried enough to try and prevent Gambit from going out and following him when he did, Rogue wasn't going to add to that. She didn't want to end up wearing the 'nagging wife' label either.

Before too long the waiter returned and they placed their order. Not long after the arrival of their drinks, however, Gambit began to notice other Thieves. There was one by the bar and another couple at another table. Initially frustrated that their 'romantic night out' was being crashed in this manner, Gambit forced himself to ignore their presence. He didn't completely relax (he hated that feeling of being watched), but he was at least able to become reasonably comfortable as the night progressed.

"I'm thinking about getting a new bike," Gambit said after a sip of his champagne.

"Oh yeah?" Rogue asked.

"Oui, a custom job," he said with a nod of his head. "I've thought about it for awhile, but it didn't seem like such a good idea while I was out in the field; wouldn't want to draw attention because of my ride."

Rogue chuckled.

"Of course, now that I've been retired from the field, that's not really relevant any more," Gambit said, a thoughtful look on his face, "so I'm thinking I might actually get one made."

"Cool," Rogue said. "I always wanted to get a Ducati, but I couldn't afford one last time I was in the market. Not that I don't adore my Ninja. My Ninja's my baby."

"I thought Olivier was your baby," Gambit teased her.

"Oli's my human baby," Rogue replied primly. "My Ninja's my bike baby."

Gambit laughed.

"This is nice," Rogue said with a smile as she reached for her own glass of champagne. "We should do this more often."

"I agree," Gambit replied.

"This is going to sound stupid, but I've been missing you even though we've seen each other every day," she admitted ruefully.

Gambit chuckled."I know what you mean. What do you say we going out again this time next week? And every week after that?"

"Sure," Rogue replied with a grin. "I think that's a really good idea."

* * *

Jean-Luc, Henri and Mercy hid well any discontent they may have been feeling when they heard of Gambit and Rogue's plans. Mercy was even supportive of the decision and Gambit got the impression that Mercy might have been feeling a little 'caught in the middle' about the whole thing.

It wasn't all good news, however. Although no one actually _prevented_ them from going out, they soon found they couldn't go anywhere without at least half a dozen Thieves following them. They weren't even all that subtle about it half the time, which irked Gambit no end. He and Rogue attempted to dodge them on multiple occasions (on the bright side, Rogue was getting a crash course on 'how to lose a tail). Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes not. Once they decided to go watch a movie and Gambit decided to just cut to the chase and buy tickets for everyone.

On none of these occasions did any Assassins try to hit Gambit, and as time passed Rogue found it easier to brush her concerns aside. However, just because none of them came after Gambit didn't mean there were no further incidents amongst the Assassins themselves. Another one of the new council leaders was murdered, and a second was critically injured. Unfortunately, all that Henri's contact was able to reveal was that Bella Donna was conducting some private investigations.

Gambit went ahead with his plan to have a custom motorcycle made; one of his many criteria was to hide the brake line in the frame. He also picked up a special gift for Rogue for their first wedding anniversary:

Rogue's face lit up as her eyes fell on the brand new Ducati standing in the garage, with bright a red bow attached.

"I... you... seriously?" she stammered.

"Uh huh," Gambit said smugly as he dangled the keys in front of her face. "Happy anniversary, Roguey."

He then had to chuckle as Rogue did a little dance on the spot.

"This is the coolest present anyone has ever gotten me," she said, bouncing over and giving her new motorcycle a hug.

"What is it with you and hugging inanimate objects?" Gambit asked. "If I wasn't so secure in my sexuality, I might start to feel inadequate."

Rogue laughed.

"Aww, Remy, you know how important touch is to me," she said, paused, and then looked over him with a coy expression on her face. "And speaking of touch..."

* * *

Rogue and Gambit stepped out of the restaurant on another one of their night outs. It was mid September and an extra-special day as Rogue had successfully passed the "locking picking with mouth" trial. To the left and right of them were four Thieves, and there were another two that had been in the restaurant with them.

None of them saw the Assassin on the roof across the street.

None of them realised the danger they were in as Gambit and Rogue walked over to their motorcycles, giving the sniper the best view and all the time required to line up the shot.

Bang!

Rogue fell back hard on the concrete, all the air completely knocked out of her from the force of the bullet hitting her chest. Blood started to soak her shirt.

"Rogue!" Gambit yelled, immediately on the ground beside her.

Her body reacted instinctually, which was good because Rogue was in far too much shock to consciously pull out Logan's psyche and set his healing factor to work. Nor would she have been able to grab Kitty's psyche either and phase herself and Gambit in time to prevent the second bullet from hitting Gambit instead of plowing into the concrete.

The Thieves lost no time. A van pulled up in front of the motorcycles, obscuring the sniper's vision. Two Thieves rushed to their side, but as Rogue and Gambit were still phased, they could do nothing to help them up.

"Remy," insisted one Thief, "we need to get going."

All the response Gambit could muster was a nod. He carefully picked up Rogue, his eyes never leaving her once, and allowed himself to be guided to the van. Evidentially Rogue must have realised she was now safe for as soon as they were in the van, Gambit noticed he could feel things again.

The van door was closed and another Thief was at Rogue with the First Aid kit.

"What in the world..." she exclaimed when she saw the last of Rogue's wound healing up.

Gambit didn't answer. He just cradled his wife in his arms.

* * *

Back at the Guild Hall, Gambit and Henri stood in the dining room with Jean-Luc, who was seated behind the table. Tante Mattie had taken it upon herself to look after Rogue, who, while physically fine, was still dealing with the shock. Olivier remained in Mercy's care.

"... wouldn't have happened if you hadn't insisted on having everyone follow me around like my own private Secret Service team!" Gambit shouted angrily. "But oooohhhh noooooo, you just _had_ to announce to any interested Assassins where I might be at any given time."

"Remy –" Henri began.

"And now look what happened! Rogue got _shot!_ We would have been fine if you'd just let us have a little bit of discretion!"

"It wouldn't have happened at all, if you'd just stayed at home," Henri yelled back at him.

"Oh right, stay at home," Gambit said scornfully. "At home, like a scared little mouse. Right, if I stayed at home every time someone threatened to kill me, I never would have left N'Orleans. I've lost track of the number of bar fights, attempted abductions, traps, bounties and everything else I've survived over the years. I even bested Deadpool."

"You paid him three million dollars not to kill you," Henri pointed out.

"I still survived didn't I? I'm not one of your boys, Henri. I don't need your _mothering_."

"No," said Jean-Luc, his quiet voice penetrating the argument far more effectively than a raised voice would, "you're _my_ boy."

Both Henri and Gambit were rendered silent, Henri with a relieved look on his face.

"Henri was obeying my instructions," Jean-Luc went on. "We are fortunate that the Assassin shot the only one of you with a healing factor – borrowed or otherwise."

"_Fortunate?_" Gambit exploded.

"Oui, fortunate," Jean-Luc said firmly. "Fortunate that your foolhardy behaviour hasn't cost more than an evening's disruption."

"_My_ foolhardy behaviour? _You're_ the one who was having me followed everywhere!"

"This isn't just about you, Remy," Jean-Luc insisted. "You have responsibilities –"

"To the Guild, I know," Gambit interrupted in exasperation. "I'm tired of hearing about it."

"Actually," Jean-Luc said mildly, "I was going to say 'to your family'."

Gambit fell silent.

"Rogue in particular," Jean-Luc said, "but also to Olivier. Don't you think he deserves to have both parents?"

"Oui," Gambit said after a moment's pause, sounding deflated.

"You live here, you work here, you're safe here," Jean-Luc said. "You'll stay here until this matter has been dealt with –"

"This is supposed to be my home, Père," Gambit said, "not my prison."

"I know. It won't last forever; for one thing, Bella Donna is far too stubborn to let this situation continue indefinitely," Jean-Luc said wryly. "Which reminds me, we must remember to send a message to her tomorrow to inform her of what happened here tonight. She needs to know how far this has gone, and I rather think I want the Assassins to know that Rogue has been gravely injured, but we're expecting her to recover."

"The less they know about her abilities, the better," Henri agreed.

"More to the point, it will explain Remy's sudden absence of trips outside the Hall," Jean-Luc said with a tight smile at Gambit. "We wouldn't want them to think he was so easily cowed, now would we?"

"Like I care what they think," Gambit muttered. "You'll excuse me, but I want to see to my wife."

"Remy," Jean-Luc said as Gambit approached the door. "I know you don't like being caged in. We'll do everything we can to alleviate that. And... you have that wedding coming up, no? Where is that?"

"California," Gambit replied, looking at the wall through the doorway, rather than back at his father.

"Good," Jean-Luc said. "Go. Even if the Assassins knew your plans, they wouldn't expect Rogue to travel in her 'current medical condition'."

"Then too, a lot of their activity is centred here," said Henri. "They may not want to leave N'Orleans at all at this time."

* * *

"Roguey?" Gambit said as he entered their bedroom.

"Hey Remy," Rogue said softly from the bed.

"How... how are you doing?" he asked as he made his way over to her.

Rogue gave a half shrug.

"Starting to regret letting Oli have my bear," she said.

Gambit cracked a smile and ran his hand along her arm.

"Well, good thing I'm here, then," he said. "I'm way better than a stuffed bear."

The slightest smile appeared on her lips.

"I don't know why I'm so shaken up," Rogue said, turning onto her back as Gambit stood and got ready for bed. "It's not like I've never been locked into a great big death machine or stabbed in the back or anything before."

"Never been shot, though," Gambit pointed out. "And those sniper rifles sure pack a punch."

"First-hand experience?"

"Fortunately I was wearing body armour at the time."

Rogue grunted and there was silence until Gambit got into bed. He slid over and wrapped her up in his arms.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"For what?" Rogue asked in genuine confusion.

"For putting you in danger. I had no idea they were after you. They were only supposed to be after me."

"How is that better?" she demanded.

"Never said it was better," Gambit replied. "I said that's what was supposed to be happening."

Rogue sighed.

"I don't blame you for what some Assassin did, Remy," she said. "I just... I... You know what? I don't really want to talk about this anymore. I just want you to hold me, okay?"

Gambit leaned over and kissed her cheek gently. "Okay."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

In the weeks leading up to John and Wanda's wedding, Tante Mattie, Jean-Luc, Mercy and Henri took turns taking care of Olivier a few times a week so that Rogue and Gambit could get back to playing World of Warcraft together. Even when they switched from headsets to speakers and microphones, it was too easy to get distracted and either end up dying in WoW, or not getting to Olivier soon enough to please him; usually the former.

Rogue and Gambit left late afternoon on the last Wednesday of September. Gambit preferred to drive at night, Rogue didn't have a problem driving during the day, and both had to stop frequently to tend to Olivier's needs as well as refuel. They both were very much relieved to finally make it to the hotel in California. After taking some time to crash, the LeBeaus visited the Brotherhood.

"Wow," said Rogue as they drove through the open gate. "The X-men have a mansion, and the Brotherhood have their own residential village."

Gambit chuckled.

"I think the Brotherhood may just have a better deal," she went on as she looked at all the neat little houses with neat little garages and lush green lawns. "Very suburbia."

"Very deceptive," Gambit said with a grin. "You'd never imagine a bunch of terrorists lived here."

Rogue laughed. Olivier burbled in his car carrier.

Although all the houses were basically identical, it didn't take them long to locate the house where Pietro, Wanda, John and Dominic lived. The familiar van parked on the driveway was a bit of a giveaway. They parked in the street, took Olivier and all his bags out, and walked up to the front door. Wanda opened it before they could even knock.

"Hey! You made it," she said, and then her eyes fell on Olivier. "Aww, hi Oli. Hi!"

Rogue chuckled while Olivier stared at her.

"Oli, this is Tante - Tante - _Auntie_ Wanda," said Rogue, and then grinned. "I had to stop and think what the English word was then."

Wanda laughed.

"Isn't he just adorable? How old is he now?" she asked.

"Six months."

"Hate to be a pest," said Gambit, "but can we come in?"

"Hmm? Oh, right," said Wanda and she stepped away from the door. "Welcome to our humble abode. So... can I hold him?"

"Sure," Rogue replied as she stepped inside.

There was nothing much to say about the entrance of the house; there was a staircase leading up, a hallways beside it, and a double archway leading into the living room, which was dominated by the four computers inside. Three of the four desks had dual monitors sitting on them and Pietro's had six; three mounted on the wall above the other three. John, Dominic, and Pietro were all busy playing World of Warcraft and wearing their headsets. Gambit put the bags down by the door.

"Ahem," Wanda said futilely to the room. "Remy and Anna are here."

She waited and tapped her foot for a couple of seconds. Just as Gambit was about to point out the obvious, Wanda wriggled her fingers and zapped the headsets with hexbolts.

"I _said_ Remy and Anna are here," Wanda said.

"Yah!" John, Pietro and Dominic yelped in chorus, simultaneously ripping off the headset and sending Wanda into a fit of laughter.

"Wanda!" Pietro added, turning around to scowl at her. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? Oh... Hi Remy, Anna. Umm... I'm kinda running an instance at the moment so..."

He turned back to his screen, gave another yell and started moving at super-speed to save his avatars from being wiped out.

"Hey," Dominic said to Rogue and Gambit after a snicker at Pietro. "That Olivier?"

"No, it's Rebecca," Gambit replied jokingly. "We had another baby and didn't tell you guys about it."

"Ooh ooh oooohh!" said John. "Remy! I _have_ to show you this!"

"Okay..."

John turned back to his computer and logged off the character he'd been playing. Wanda rolled her eyes, muttered something unintelligible and turned her attention back to Olivier. Gambit walked over and hurriedly donned a pair of sunglasses before looking at the screen. Why some people insisted on having the brightness on their monitors set so high, he had no idea. It was a wonder more people didn't go blind. He watched while John selected - of all things - a Dwarf from the character screen.

"Since when did you play Alliance?" Gambit asked.

"You are going to love this," John said gleefully as the loading screen came up. "Bobby was the one who told me about it."

The female Dwarf appeared centre stage on the screen and John moved the camera so that they could see her from the side. He then made her run. It didn't take long for Gambit to figure out why John was so enthusiastic about it.

"Wow," Gambit said, grinning. "Those things are really flopping all over the place aren't they?"

"Yeah," John said gleefully. "I've never seen any of the Horde race girls' boobies bounce around like that, but the Dwarf women do have pretty big gazungas."

"What on earth is she wearing?" asked Rogue, peering over John's shoulder.

"Umm, a Rough Cooper Vest I think," John replied. "She's a warrior."

"It looks like a bra," said Rogue. "A chain mail bra."

Gambit snickered. "Oooh kinky."

"Seriously, the way those things are going, she'd be in so much pain right about now," Rogue said with a nod.

"Not to mention the chaffing," added Wanda. "I think this is the one thing I don't like about this game. I mean, it's one thing for the cloth wearers, and even the leather wearers to wear skimpy outfits, but mail and plate should never be allowed to be skimpy. It's just wrong."

"And lousy protection," Rogue agreed, "to say nothing about poor support."

"Oh, stop taking the fun out of it," John said.

Olivier abruptly started crying. Gambit and Rogue both looked up from the screen towards their son, wailing in Wanda's arms. Wanda opened her mouth to try and calm him, but before she could get a word out, Gambit had covered Olivier's eyes.

"He's a little light sensitive, like his Papa," Gambit said tersely. "The monitors in here are a bit bright."

"Oh... oh hell I'm so sorry," Wanda said.

"You didn't know. Where are his glasses, Roguey?" Gambit asked.

"In the bag, hang on," Rogue said, already walking over to the bags.

"Shh, shh," Gambit said as he lifted Olivier from Wanda's hold, making sure to keep the monitors out of direct view. ["Mama's getting your glasses for you so that you don't have to look at the big mean bright lights. Yes, I know it hurts, but it'll pass soon, I promise."]

"I have no idea what you just said," Wanda said. "You could be calling me a 'mean lady' for all I know."

"He's just telling Oli he'll be all right," Rogue said as she rummaged through the bag. "I don't think Oli believes him though."

["Wanda's a mean lady isn't she?"] Gambit said jokingly to Olivier. ["How dare she accidentally expose you to bright lights. The nerve!"]

Rogue giggled.

"What?" Wanda demanded. "Hey, I know you're talking about me. You said 'Wanda'!"

"Don't mind him," said Rogue. "He's just being silly. Ah ha!"

She brandished the baby sunglasses triumphantly in the air, stood and walked over to put them on her son.

"Aww don't they look so cute?" Wanda said. "Father and son, both in glasses."

"Yeah," Rogue said with a grin. "We got Oli a little suit to wear for the wedding too; then they're really going to match."

"Nah, they'll really match when Oli gets hair."

"Long hair."

"Yeah. It'll be so cute. You have to send photos. Or I have to visit," Wanda said gleefully.

["And here's lesson number one about women,"] Gambit said conversationally to Olivier. ["They're obsessed with anything 'cute'. Kittens, puppies, teddy bears... babies. You will not believe the number of women I've picked up that way..."]

"Hey!" Rogue objected.

"Have to have the talk sometime, chére."

* * *

Not long thereafter, Wanda and Rogue departed for one of the houses across the street where Martinique "Mastermind" Jason, Wanda's Maid of Honour, lived. Because she was living with John, Wanda was keeping the dresses at Mastermind's home.

"We've never been able to convince you to play WoW with us, have we?" Wanda asked in amusement after introductions were done.

"Yeah, I have better things to do," Mastermind replied dismissingly.

"Uh huh, so where were you exactly when the Sentinels attacked?" Wanda drawled.

"That's none of your business."

"Uhh so," Rogue cut in, sensing a fight was going to start up again, "where's this bridesmaid gown I'm suppose to try on?"

"Right this way," Mastermind replied, turning and sauntering up the stairs.

The bridesmaid gown turned out to be a rather sophisticated black and white number. Wanda's gown was red, scarlet, technically (as she pointed out, she wasn't called the 'Scarlet Witch' for the fun of it). Rogue's dress didn't fit her initially, but a couple of hex bolts later and it became just the right size. Mastermind had a few snarky remarks to say about the perils of pregnancy and then it was Wanda's turn to intervene before fighting broke out.

* * *

The girls and the boys were reunited an hour or so later at the community hall within the residential village where the wedding would be held. The first thing that caught Rogue's attention as they approached the hall, however, was a familiar structure around which the guys were waiting.

"That had better not be what I think it is," she said darkly as they approached.

"What?" asked Wanda.

"That," Rogue said, pointing.

"Hmm, that depends," Wanda said. "What do you think it is?"

"A death machine."

Wanda blinked and regarded Rogue in surprise. Mastermind snickered.

"Well," Wanda said slowly. "I've heard it called a few things, but not a 'death machine'. It turns humans into mutants."

"Ahh, see, I'm right," said Rogue. "It's a death machine."

Gambit looked at Rogue, then back at the machine, then at Rogue again.

"Actually," John piped up, "the X-men were wrong when they said it killed people –"

"Two words: Senator Kelly," Rogue snapped, "to say nothing of what it was going to do to me."

"Yeah, but the death rate is only five percent or something," John said. "How else do you think Mags knew it could turn humans into mutants?"

"That death rate is debatable though," said Pietro. "There was that one guy who we thought was dead, but actually turned out to have developed the mutant power to feign death."

"Feign death?" Gambit asked. "Really?"

"Yeah, if he played WoW, he'd be a hunter," Pietro joked.

"Magneto experimented with the design here," Wanda told Rogue, disgust clearly evident in her voice. "I told him not to, that it would cause more trouble than it was worth, but did he listen? Noooo. I was just a silly little girl who had no idea what was really going on here, so what happens? I get stuck looking after all his test subjects."

"Yeah, well, that thing nearly killed me," Rogue said. "I –"

"Yeah, I told them about Buckethead kidnapping you," John cut in, "and how Logan nearly died saving you and –"

"Why keep it?" Rogue asked. "Why don't you just dismantle the stupid thing?"

"Because," Wanda began smugly.

"Here it comes," Pietro said under his breath.

"It is a symbol of what happens when you don't listen to me," Wanda said, ignoring him. "I told him not to. Repeatedly. And what happens? Not only does his plan fail, but he ends up in a plastic prison. This machine is clearly proof that I'm always right, and it needs to stay here as an example to everyone, to remind them of why they should always listen to me."

"And she likes rubbing it into Magneto's face," said Pietro. "He actually did destroy it the first time he came back after he escaped from prison."

"I had it rebuilt," Wanda said gleefully. "It's plastic. That just rubs it in even more. It's awesome."

Rogue burst out laughing.

"Come on," said Wanda, heading up to the front doors. "Let's go in, shall we? Kurt's probably wondering where we are."

"Kurt?" Rogue repeated.

"Yeah," said Wanda as Pietro opened up the doors and they stepped inside. "He's the priest who –"

"Kurt!" Rogue exclaimed as her eyes fell on the blue-furred mutant sitting on a nearby chair.

In a flash, she ran over and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug. Kurt only stood up just in time.

"Rogue," he greeted, "it is good to see you again."

"I'm guessing you two know each other," Dominic said.

"Duh," said John. "I told you she was there when we met."

"Hey, how have you been?" Rogue asked as she pulled away and looked up at him. "I thought you went back to Germany?"

"I did," Kurt replied with a smile. "I came back. I understand you're married now?"

"Uh huh, oh!" Rogue said, pulling away and turning so she could see both Kurt and Gambit. "Kurt, this is Remy, and this," she went on, gesturing to the bundle sleeping in the baby sling Gambit was wearing, "is our son, Olivier. Remy, this is my old friend, Kurt."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Gambit, holding out his hand.

"And you as well," Kurt replied. "Congratulations."

"Merci."

"Yeah, yeah," Mastermind cut in. "Can we get this rehearsal on the road already? I have things to do."

* * *

Sometime later, after the rehearsal, Kurt asked if he could talk to Rogue in private. Gambit said he'd meet her at the car and took off with Olivier.

"Yes?" Rogue asked once they were alone.

"I'm not... I'm not really sure how to say this," Kurt said cautiously. "It... I... I recently learned the name of my birth mother."

"Okay..." Rogue said slowly, uncertain whether she was supposed to be happy for him or sympathising with him.

"We... it turns out we have something in common," Kurt said. "My mother is Mystique."

Rogue was rendered silent for a long moment.

"So," she said when she finally found her voice, "she abandoned you too, huh?"

"It would seem so," Kurt replied gently. "I hope one day I have a chance to ask her why."

"Every word that woman says is a lie," Rogue snapped.

"Perhaps," Kurt said, "but I still wish I had the chance to get to know her, as you did."

Rogue sighed.

"I guess I can understand that," she said reluctantly. "I never got to know my birth parents. They died when I was four."

Kurt nodded. "And – regardless of how things go with Mystique – may I consider you my sister?"

A slow smile appeared on Rogue's lips.

"Sure," she said, "just so long as I can consider you my brother."

* * *

On the day of the wedding, Rogue and Wanda prepared at Mastermind's house, while Gambit and Olivier hung out with John, Dominic and Pietro. Gambit made sure that Olivier got in a nice long nap before the ceremony, although when the time came he took a seat up the back, near an exit in case a speedy withdrawal was required.

The hall began to fill up. Gambit recognised a few of the people there as some of those whom the Brotherhood had taken back with them after rescuing them from the Sentinels. John was up the front, wearing a bright orange shirt under his black jacket that matches his hair. Beside him was his Best Man, Dominic, and his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Pietro.

Just as Gambit was wondering if this wedding was ever going to start, two more people entered the hall; Magneto and Mystique walked down the aisle like they owned the place, which, technically, they probably did. Gambit didn't remember anyone saying that they were coming, and judging from the expressions on John and Pietro's faces, they hadn't expected them either. Knowing what Kurt had told Rogue previously, Gambit noticed Kurt's face light up, and Gambit actually hoped Kurt would get a chance to talk to Mystique later – and that it wouldn't end badly.

Finally the music began. Rogue was first down the aisle and Gambit smiled as he watched her. Mastermind followed and finally Wanda graced the hall with her presence. It wasn't until the women got to the end that they noticed their unexpected guests. Wanda made a concerted effort to ignore them, but Rogue wasn't beneath shooting Mystique death glares.

* * *

The reception was held in another room in the community hall, and was decorated with fire colours; reds, oranges, yellows, black and white. The seating arrangement was informal and the food was an open buffet. Wanda and John's favourite music played throughout, although this apparently involved a lot of songs by Rolf Harris (Gambit had a few dirty things to say about _Jake the Peg_ and his extra leg).

"Marie," Mystique said upon her approach to where Rogue was seated with Gambit.

"Don't call me that," Rogue snapped at her. "I'm Rogue."

Mystique sighed and leaned on the table.

"May I hold my grandson?" she asked.

"He ain't your grandson," Rogue said, glaring at Mystique as she moved in between her and Olivier. "You lost the chance to claim any children of mine as your grandchildren the day you abandoned me, and you nailed the coffin shut when you sold me out to Magneto and conspired to kill me."

"It's not that simple... Rogue," Mystique replied tersely.

"I'd say it _is_ that simple, Mystique," Gambit said. "Perhaps you should move along."

"Irene was a precog –" Mystique began.

"No, really?" Rogue asked sarcastically. "I was young, not stupid."

"She said we had to leave, that your life –"

"I don't want to hear your excuses," Rogue snapped. "Go away and don't come near me or my family again."

"Now my dear," said Magneto, practically sneaking up on them from behind, "let's not make a scene. It's Wanda's wedding."

"Ha!" Mystique said scornfully as Pietro and Wanda joined them as well. "You're no more happy with your daughter's choice of husband than I am with mine,"

"Nevertheless, it is her decision," Magneto replied.

"I'm surprised you even respect that," Wanda said glaring at him, her arms folded across her chest. "What the hell are you doing here? You weren't invited."

"I know," Magneto replied calmly. "I assumed it was because you had nowhere to send the invitation. Ahh... so this in the new LeBeau."

Gambit looked at Magneto and then back at Rogue as Magneto peered over his shoulder to look at Olivier, who was quite contently drinking from his bottle.

"How fortunate you are to have a sign of his mutation so early," Magneto went on. "You'd be surprised at just how often two mutant parents can produce a... human... child."

Magneto said the word 'human' like it was something revolting he had to pick up and was trying to keep it as far away from his person as he could. Mystique pursed her lips.

"You know what?" said Pietro tersely. "I'm going to go."

He zipped off before anyone could say a word to stop him. Wanda's glare deepened.

"You are such a bastard," she said, glowering at Magneto. "That was completely unnecessary."

"That doesn't stop it from being true, my dear," Magneto replied. "Come Mystique, I believe we have worn out our welcome. Congratulations... to all of you."

There was silence from the group as Magneto and Mystique departed. Once they were out the door, Wanda shook her head and sighed.

"Umm," Rogue said tentatively, "did we miss something?"

"Pietro..." Wanda began, stopped, took a breath and continued: "Pietro ended up dating one of the girls who Magneto turned into a mutant. He and Crystal ended up having a daughter, Luna. Unfortunately, Luna... Luna was born human. _Certain people _are embarrassed by that fact, and made it very difficult for everyone else. Crystal eventually left, took Luna with her and we haven't seen either of them since. I'd better check on Pietro."

"Tell him he's not allowed to sulk on your wedding day," Rogue advised her with a nod.

Wanda laughed.

"I might just do that," she said.

* * *

**AN:**

Mastermind / Martinique Jason is comic canon. She's the daughter of Jason Wyngarde (who was apparently Stryker's son in the movieverse, go figure), and the half sister of Lady Mastermind / Regan Wyngarde.

Crystal and Luna are comic canon, but Crystal is Pietro's ex-wife, not his ex-girlfriend, and she's an Inhuman, not a mutant.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The time away had been nice and all too short. Gambit never thought the day would come when he actually dreaded going home. He was convinced he could have handled everything a lot better if it wasn't for this mess with the Assassins. It made him feel better to have someone to blame for his discomfort.

Still, he did have standards. There were some things he wouldn't do to get out of the house:

"I'm not going to Italy for the sole purpose of doing a job with Viviana," Gambit said firmly to Henri and Jean-Luc in his father's office. "Last time I did a job with her, it ended in... erm, well... we won't go into that."

"Actually it's funny you should mention the last job," Henri said with a smirk. "I believe you deux stole something from one of the Cosa Nostra?"

"Oui, we did," Gambit said, a mischievous grin appearing on his face despite himself. "And afterwards we buried our loot like pirates 'cause there was no way we could risk trying to sell it on the black market."

"Well, it's time to dig up ye treasure," Henri replied. "Something's going down - Viviana wasn't big on details - and she needs the loot to make it happen. Apparently there are some people-specific locks?"

"Oui," Gambit replied. "Cortical and thumb print scans. It was fairly amusing setting up a security system instead of taking it down. It needs both of us to get in."

"Exactly," Jean-Luc said.

Gambit sighed. "I have to go?"

"You have to go."

"I knew I shouldn't have let Viviana talk me into that," he said, shaking his head. "All right, fine. When do I have to leave?"

"This Saturday," Henri replied.

* * *

It was late Friday night, almost Saturday morning and pouring with rain when the tall, bedraggled figure appeared at the Guild Hall. He didn't have a problem getting in, but he didn't get very far either.

Gambit was still up, trying to soothe a teething, seven-month-old Olivier when the messenger gave him the news.

["Alright, I'll be there as soon as I've gotten Olivier to settle down,"] Gambit told him.

["Uhh, yes sir..."] the Thief replied hesitantly.

["What?"]

["He's also injured,"] the young man replied nervously. ["He's asking for Aunt Mattie."]

["So get her,"] Gambit replied, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt. ["She might bite your head off for waking her, but I assure you, she will chew you up and spit you out if you don't and the injury is serious."]

["Yes sir."]

["Is that all?"]

["Yes sir."]

["Then go,"] Gambit said, fighting the urge to snap at him.

Gambit sighed as the young man hurriedly left the room. He did not want to deal with this right now; any of it.

* * *

After Olivier finally settled down some time later, Gambit reluctantly made his way to the holding room. He really wanted to go back to bed.

He yawned as he approached the doorway and looked inside. The intruder was seated on a chair in the centre of the room, shirtless while Tante Mattie tended to his arm. There were five Thieves in the room, including the young man who had played messenger earlier.

"All right, Gris Gris," Gambit said as he stepped into the room in front of the intruder. "I'll bite... why on earth are you here?"

"Bella Donna didn't want me to lose the use of my arm, and we all know Tante Mattie's the best healer around," Gris Gris replied sourly.

"Uh huh," Gambit drawled. "Why else?"

"Not good enough for you, Remy?" asked Tante Mattie.

"Bella Donna has your phone number, Tante," Gambit said, once again trying not to sound irritated. "If that was the only reason why Gris Gris was here, he wouldn't have shown up unannounced."

Gris Gris chuckled.

"Not in front of the lackeys," he said, with a slight smirk.

Tante Mattie clipped him under the ear and Gris Gris gave a small, involuntary cry.

"Mind your manners," she scolded him, and with her back still turned to Gambit; "and wipe that smirk off your face, Remy."

Gambit laughed softly despite himself and then nodded to the other Thieves.

"Leave us," he said. "And the first homme I catch eavesdropping will be doing kitchen duty for a week."

There was some reluctance, but the five trotted out. Gambit shut the door behind them, and turned back to Gris Gris once more.

"All right," Gambit said, pulling up a chair and sitting on it back to front. "I'm listening."

Gris Gris took a deep breath, the look on his face clearly revealing that he found this whole situation highly distasteful.

"Belle and I are ninety percent certain we know who the rogue Assassin is," Gris Gris said. "Or, who's leading them, rather. There's too much variation in tactics for it to just be one person, but we think we know who the others are as well. Unfortunately, we can't act until we know for certain - I'm sure you of all people can appreciate how easy it is to frame people you know."

"Indeed," Gambit replied.

"Tonight we were given an opportunity to lay a trap," Gris Gris went on. "As you've probably guessed, one of them tried to take me out tonight. Questa is currently posing as me in a far more critical condition; we're sure they're going to try and finish the job. Of course... this means if Questa is me, then I can't be there."

Silence fell between the two men. Tante Mattie rolled her eyes.

"Belle was hoping," Gris Gris went on tersely, having realised that Gambit was going to make him say it, "that you would agree to let me stay here until the trap is sprung. Most of our safehouses will be known to the others and this was... this was the only place we knew for certain they wouldn't search. She also thought it might be in your best interest to co-operate, seeing as how they got your pretty wife."

Gambit decided to ignore that last part, which Gris Gris had clearly thrown in so that the blow to his pride wouldn't seem so staggering.

"D'accord," Gambit said. "I'll inform my men that they didn't see you here tonight, and you may stay in one of the guest rooms, where you'll be restricted -"

"I understand," Gris Gris replied, with something that looked like relief in his face.

"Perhaps one of the rooms in the LeBeau wing," Tante Mattie 'suggested'. "That's naturally restricted, so the Guild at large won't know you're there, and there's always at least one LeBeau in that part of the Hall these days anyway."

"Oui, and it's usually Rogue and Olivier," Gambit said tersely, "and I really don't think -"

"What?" Gris Gris asked with a smirk. "You think I might try to off your wife and child?"

"Not like it hasn't been attempted before," Gambit replied mildly, "but I was actually thinking Rogue might not appreciate _your_ company."

"If you're done with the male posturing," Tante Mattie said. "I'm sure that Gris Gris will behave himself, won't you child?"

Gris Gris bristled at the word 'child' being applied to him, but nodded.

"Not worth causing trouble here," Gris Gris said.

"Alright," Gambit said. "I guess I'll pick a room and get it made up for you. We'll talk again with Jean-Luc and Henri in the morning."

"You go on to bed, Remy," said Tante Mattie. "I'll get the room done. Oh, be sure to talk to those boys first."

"Don't worry, I will," Gambit replied. "Bonne nuit, Tante Mattie. I shall see you both at breakfast."

* * *

To say that the other LeBeaus were surprised when Gris Gris entered the dining room the next morning was putting it mildly. The shock at not just an Assassin, but the First Kill, with his arm heavily bandaged and in a sling, walking into what was supposed to be a secure area was quite palpable. The only one unaffected was Olivier.

"It's rude to stare," Tanta Mattie said firmly, and then patted the chair next to her. "Come sit by me, Gris Gris. How is your arm this morning?"

"Fine, merci," Gris Gris replied as he sat down at the indicated chair.

Gambit took the moment to hurriedly explain what had happened the night before.

"Oh," he went on, "I don't believe you would have met Henri and Mercy's boy, Lucian."

"Hey," Lucian said awkwardly.

"Or my wife, Rogue," Gambit said.

"Hi," Rogue said, before scooping up another spoonful of baby cereal for Olivier.

"Bonjour," Gris Gris replied.

"Now, what would you like to eat?" Tante Mattie asked and, without waiting for Gris Gris to reply, started piling his plate with all the things she thought he should eat.

The LeBeaus wisely didn't comment, although Mercy could practically see Gambit and Henri's minds ticking over with all the smart remarks they would have loved to have said.

"And what are your plans for today, Gris Gris?" asked Jean-Luc.

"Just laying low, Monsieur LeBeau," Gris Gris replied stiffly.

"I believe you've managed that," Jean-Luc replied dryly. "As long as you stay within the LeBeau wing, you'll be fine."

"Oui, I put him up on the third floor," Tante Mattie said, now cutting up some of Gris Gris' food as he was restricted to one arm.

"You did?" Gambit asked.

"In one of the bedrooms by the elevator," said Tante Mattie.

"I'm only going to stay here until the trap's been sprung," Gris Gris said, retrieving his fork from Tante Mattie's hand. "Hopefully this should all be over before Christmas. I have no interest in getting involved in Thief affairs. Just... a computer and internet access and you'll barely know I'm here."

"I think we can arrange that," said Jean-Luc.

* * *

Gambit departed for Italy early that afternoon, feeling doubly nervous about the whole thing. He wasn't sure what worried him more; seeing Viviana again, or leaving Rogue and Olivier with Gris Gris. The rational part of him was sure that Gris Gris wouldn't do anything, but that didn't stop him from being anxious.

Viviana was there to greet him at the airport; kissing him with a little too much enthusiasm before he could push her off and remind her he was married.

["Is that all that's holding you back?"] she asked coyly.

["No, but if you really want me to go through the list..."] he replied coolly. ["Let's get going, shall we?"]

["Spoil sport,"] Viviana said.

Gambit's only bag was his travel-on luggage, so the two headed straight for Viviana's non-descript car.

["We're going to go straight there,"] Viviana informed him once they were on the road, ["but we're also going to be taking the long route."]

["That was to be expected,"] Gambit replied. ["So, how _are_ things with the Cosa Nostra these days?"]

["Same old, same old really,"] Viviana replied. ["We think they're a bunch of thugs. They think we're elitist pigs. We hate them, they hate us, they hire us all the same and then set traps once they have what they want and wonder how we manage to escape."]

Gambit snickered.

* * *

Just as Rogue quietly shut the door to Olivier's room after putting him down for his nap, her mobile phone rang. She winced, answered it quickly, and fortunately didn't hear Olivier wake up again.

"Hello?" she said, her voice low as she moved away from the door.

"Hi Rogue," Zoe replied. "Did I call at a bad time?"

"I just put Oli down for a nap," Rogue replied. "I'm in the process of sneaking away so that I don't wake Mr Cranky-pants."

Zoe giggled as Rogue entered the lounge room. Gris Gris was seated at Gambit's desk with a computer that they had loaned him for the duration. He was wearing headphones, so Rogue decided not to worry about him, although she did wander over to the windows at the other end of the room.

"Good stealth practice?" Zoe suggested.

"Something like," Rogue replied dryly. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, Andre, Brad, Stephane and I have decided we're going to rob a bank," Zoe said. "It's a bank we've been trying to work out how to break into for ages actually; it's right next door to a cop shop and they have a great view of the only exposed wall of the bank vault."

"Oh lovely."

"So Rogue... this ability to walk through walls you have..."

Rogue laughed.

"Phase everyone in, collect the loot, phase everyone out again?" asked Rogue.

"Yep," Zoe replied. "You in?"

"Sure, why not?" Rogue replied, amused. "It'll have to wait until Remy gets back though."

"That's cool. We've already figured out how to bypass security; cameras and all that jazz."

"Okay, great."

They chatted a little longer before hanging up. Rogue then made her way to her computer and checked the time once she turned it on. While she waited for it to start up, she glanced over at Gris Gris' monitor and gaped in shock; he was playing World of Warcraft. She started to laugh and continued giggling even as she started the game herself. This laughter eventually caught Gris Gris' attention and he glanced over at Rogue as her character screen came up. Gris Gris pulled his headphones off.

"You play too?" he asked in surprise.

"Uh huh," Rogue said with a grin as she loaded her druid. "And Remy too."

"Damn," Gris Gris said. "And here I was thinking I was the only one."

"None of your friends like it?" Rogue asked.

"Non. They all think I'm nuts, really," Gris Gris replied ruefully.

"Yeah, everyone thinks Remy and I are nuts too," Rogue said. "What's your main?"

"Whatever I happen to be playing at the time," Gris Gris said with a shrug. "I play every class and every race, mostly because I like having access to all the professions."

"Ahh... because some recipes require things made with stuff from other professions?"

"Exactly. I'd join a guild or something, but I'm not on here often enough at the same time. But hey, this works for me. Lots of variety."

"Cool. My main's a druid," Rogue said. "But I also have an alt who's a mage, and I'm thinking of making a Goblin rogue when Cataclysm comes out."

"I can't wait for Cataclysm," Gris Gris replied, grinning.

"Same. Hey... isn't it awkward playing with one arm?" she asked.

"A little," he answered with a shrug. "But I'm mostly questing right now, so it's okay if my response time is a little slow. Not like I'm PvPing or running an instance."

"True."

* * *

Gambit was becoming more and more irritated with Viviana as time went by. She seemed to enjoy pretending they were husband and wife at every public place they went to and if Gambit didn't know better, he'd say she cooked up the whole scheme just so she could do that. However, Viviana, for all her talk, took the Cosa Nostra very seriously, and while he expected opportunism from her, he also expected the situation was quite real.

Still, that didn't make sharing one-bed hotel rooms any easier. Nor did irritating Viviana by sleeping on the couch or on the floor make things any more comfortable.

It was rather late by the time they got to the hotel. Tomorrow they would make their way to the vault, get in, get out and go home. Gambit was definitely looking forward to going home, even if Viviana was going to insist on going back 'the long way'. He was convinced she was power-mad or something.

Viviana went straight to bed – it was surprising how tiring driving could be – and had no shame in stripping off in front of her former lover. Gambit ignored her, instead preparing the couch for his use.

["You sure you don't want to join me?"] she asked. ["You'll be a lot more comfortable."]

["Somehow I doubt it,"] Gambit replied.

'Comfortable' was simply not a word used to describe anyone's relationship with Viviana, ever. 'Passionate', 'hot', even 'violent', but _never_ 'comfortable'.

Gambit caught a few hours of sleep before he woke again. It was morning, but still dark and he glanced over at Viviana; fast asleep. Quietly, he got out of bed, pulled out his phone and walked over to the window. It would be evening in New Orleans.

"Hello?" Rogue said upon answering her phone.

"Hey Roguey," Gambit said softly, so as not to disturb Viviana. "How you doing?"

"Remy!" she exclaimed, and Gambit grinned at her happy tone. "I'm great. Been plotting with Zoe about doing a bank robbery when you get back, oh and it turns out Gris Gris plays WoW too."

"He does? Seriously?" Gambit asked in surprise.

"Uh huh. He's an altaholic," Rogue said with a giggle. "He's created a rogue and joined our guild."

Gambit laughed softly.

"Wow," he said. "Gris Gris plays a rogue. Now _that_ I wouldn't have expected. I would have picked... shadow priest. _Troll_ shadow priest, with alchemy."

"Well, he has a troll, a couple of alchemists and a couple of priests, although I don't know what specs or what combination, but anyway."

"Heh. How's Oli doing?"

"Good - Oh! We can finally see his first tooth."

"What really?"

"Uh huh, it finally came through just this morning, poor little thing."

"That's awesome. I can't wait to see it," Gambit said enthusiastically. "Give him a big hug from me."

"Ha, I will," Rogue promised. "How's it going with you?"

"Finally going to do the job tomorrow," Gambit said, relief evident in his voice.

["Remy? What are you doing up?"]

Gambit jumped and turned to see Viviana only half a foot behind him, with a wicked expression on her face that did not match the innocent tone of voice she used. This was the problem with working with people who walked quietly; you could never hear them coming.

["Come back to bed and make love to me again,"] she said.

["Don't be -"] Gambit began and then promptly cut himself off when he heard the phone click in his ear. "Rogue? Rogue? Merde!"

Viviana giggled wickedly, highly amused by the expression on Gambit's face as he redialled his phone.

"Come on, chére," he muttered. "Pick up... damn!"

["Ugh, Remy,"] Viviana said, tugging at his arm, ["we have a big day tomorrow. Come to bed, seriously."]

She was quite shocked then, when Gambit pushed her away quite forcefully, and she stumbled backwards. She stared as Gambit dialled another number on his phone.

"Henri," Gambit said, "I need you to stop Rogue from leaving."

"Umm... okay," Henri replied, sounding a little confused. "Nice to hear from you too."

"It's not funny, Henri," Gambit said, pushing past Viviana and locating his things. ["Viviana decided to give Rogue the impression we're having an affair."]

"Oh."

Viviana rolled her eyes.

"I need you to make sure she doesn't take off," Gambit said. ["I'm going to catch the first flight home."]

["Excuse me?"] Viviana demanded. ["I don't think so! We've still got a job to do."]

["Then you should have thought of that before you butted in on my conversation with my wife,"] Gambit snapped at her. ["I choose Rogue over you any day, and I don't even have to think about that."]

["You can't leave now!"] she screeched at him.

"Uhh, Remy..." Henri began.

"Just stop Rogue before she bolts," Gambit told him. "She won't leave without Olivier, at least, I don't think she will."

["How am I supposed to get into the vault without you?"] Viviana demanded. ["We didn't set up all those traps for the fun of it, you know!"]

["You're a thief,"] Gambit replied. ["Break in."]

"Uhh, Remy, not that I don't sympathise with you wanting to leave and sort things out with Rogue," Henri said tentatively, "but you're already there, maybe you should -"

["Screw Viviana,"] Gambit cut in. ["The Cosa Nostra can give her cement shoes for all I care."]

Viviana's fist met Gambit's face hard, splitting his lip. He tasted blood.

"I'll see you in a few hours, Henri," Gambit said, glaring coldly at Viviana, and he hung up.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

When there was no answer to his knock, Henri let himself into Rogue and Gambit's room. There was a suitcase open on the bed, already half full with clothes. Beside the suitcase there was another pile of clothes, all with their hangers still attached.

"Go away, Henri," Rogue said, her voice almost a growl as she threw another bundle of clothes on the bed.

"Remy's on his way home," Henri said, feeling awkward. "He –"

"Good for him," she snarled, turning her back and storming back into the walk-in-wardrobe.

"Look, I'm not entirely certain what happened," Henri said, "but I do know he didn't cheat on you."

Rogue made a rude noise.

"Oh come on Rogue, you can't be serious?" Henri demanded. "Remy loves you. He has no interest in straying."

"You don't know that," Rogue snapped at him, emerging from the wardrobe with another bundle of clothes on their hangers. "Just stay out of it."

"Look," Henri said, not wanting to be in the middle of this in the first place, "he'll be here in a few hours. Can't you just wait until he gets here?"

"By the time he gets here, I won't be."

Henri did have to give Gambit credit; he picked Rogue was going to bolt, and she was. Henri stayed there, saying everything he could think of to persuade her to stay, even going so far as to stand in the doorway when she tried to leave. He was standing on very thin ice and he knew it, but he also knew that Rogue could use her powers at any time to get by him, so either she was too angry to consider it, or she wanted to be talked out of leaving.

"Rogue," Tante Mattie's voice cut in through the yelling from behind Henri in the hallway, "the races are going to start in about an hour."

Henri turned just enough to see that with Tante Mattie was also Mercy, and Gris Gris wasn't too far away either, watching curiously. The silence was palpable.

"You know what?" Rogue said. "That's a good idea."

She pulled back into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. Henri looked at Tante Mattie.

"Are you sure –" he began.

"She needs to blow off some steam," Tante Mattie replied calmly. "And she can't do it here."

"What about... rogue Assassins?" Henri asked, his eyes flickering to Gris Gris.

"I have a feeling if anyone decides to cause her any trouble tonight," Tante Mattie said, "they'll find out why she calls herself 'Rogue'."

* * *

Rogue was relieved to find the hallway empty once she had changed into her motorcycle gear. The way to the garage was unobstructed and Rogue was able to leave on her Ducati without any interference.

She had only ever been to the illegal motorcycle racing here once, and only as a spectator just a week before she found out she was pregnant. Tonight she would be racing.

Rogue made her way through the throngs of people to the notice board where all the races were listed, and beside it was the booth for signing up and paying over the entry fee. After reading through the races they'd be running that night, she walked over to the booth. There were two men; one was busy with another racer, and the other looked Rogue over skeptically as she approached.

"What can I do for you, toots?"

"First, you can stop calling me 'toots' before I shove your head up your ass," Rogue snapped at him. "Second, you can take my entry fee for the –"

"You've got to be kidding me," he said scornfully. "You don't seriously think you can race?"

"You really don't want to piss me off tonight."

"Oh I'm so scared," he sneered as his partner turned around to look. "This is a man's sport, girlie. It's no place for the likes of you. Go back to the kitchen."

His partner cut in front of him, then, laughing nervously.

"Don't listen to Gerry," he said. "He's a misogynist. We'd _love_ to have you... Rogue... May I call you Rogue?"

"That's fine," Rogue replied tersely.

"Good, good... so, ahh, which race did you want to enter?"

He was quite quick and efficient about signing her up for the race, indicting where the bookies were in case she wanted to bet, and making sure she knew how the course worked (which she appreciated, as it had been some time since she'd last been here). As she turned and walked away, she heard Gerry tell him off:

"You didn't need to fawn all over her like that."

"You're an idiot," he scolded Gerry, and Rogue couldn't resist the urge to pull out Logan's psyche and utilise his enhanced senses to hear the rest of the conversation: "Do you have any idea who that was?"

"Some chick named Rogue," Gerry replied dismissingly.

"Moron! She's _Thieves Guild!_ You just insulted Rogue _LeBeau._"

Rogue grinned despite herself at Gerry's horrified swearing. On the one hand, she rather wanted to forget about being a LeBeau right about now. On the other hand, it was kind of nice to be able to inspire fear in others.

She did place a bet on herself in the end, but more for the fun of it than any great need to win the money. The odds on her weren't too bad; just above 'insulting', and Rogue suspected 'newbie' had been countered with 'Guild'.

It was quite some wait until her race was to begin, and she ended up gravitating towards her fellow Thieves. She fell into an easy camaraderie with them, reminiscent of the one she had with Frank, Joss and the others when she'd been racing all the time.

Finally her race came up. That familiar thrill of just being alive kicked in as she took off after the flag fell. She zoomed down the road at high speed like all of hell was after her.

She loved every moment of it.

Rogue's chief disappointment was that the race was over far too soon. Before she knew it, she had crossed the finish line. It was only a minor disappointment that she came in second, but she'd been there for the thrill, not for the money.

She entered a second race – a sprint – before the night was over, but it wasn't really the same. The companionship kept her for the duration.

Rogue got back home in the wee hours of the morning. She stopped briefly to look in on the spare bedroom on the other side of Olivier's, but the bed wasn't even made up and she decided she was feeling too tired to worry about it right now. She trudged into her bedroom, stripped off what she needed to and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Aside from the necessary travelling time to the airport in Rome, Gambit also had to wait a few hours for the next flight and then there was the necessary flight time before he finally got to the airport. He wasted no time getting to the Guild Hall, although by that point, rushing seemed a little redundant. All those hours waiting gave him a lot of time to go over all of Rogue's possible reactions and figure out how he was going to deal with this.

He couldn't believe this was even happening.

It was a little anti-climatic by the time he got back and found Rogue asleep in bed, although his slight smile faded when he spotted her packed suitcase by the side of the door. He put down his own bag, pulled off his shoes and coat, and laid on the bed beside her. He reached out his hand and gently stroked her cheek. She didn't stir at first, but after a minute she opened her eyes.

"Morning," he said softly.

"Morning," she replied.

Then the expression on her face hardened as she remembered what had happened the night before. She sat up and pulled away from him, glaring at him.

"You've got a lot of nerve," she snapped.

"I never cheated on you, Rogue," Gambit replied firmly.

["Remy? What are you doing up?"] Rogue said with a rough French accent in a mocking imitation of Viviana's voice. ["Come back to bed and _make love to me again_."]

"What are you saying?" asked Gambit. "That you're taking Viviana's word over mine? You only met her once and she doesn't even like you. _I_ love you, and the last time I slept with that vixen was years before you and I even _met_."

"Yeah right," Rogue snorted, pushing herself off the bed and turning her back on him.

"Why is it so easy to believe I'd cheat?" Gambit demanded, getting off the bed as well as she walked over to the door. "And don't start giving me your lines about how 'everyone always betrays you'. I never have. Never. And I've never given you any reason to believe I'd stab you in the back."

"You... I just..." Rogue said tightly, having trouble forming words as she picked up her suitcase. "I just... can't deal with this right now. Just –"

"So that's it?" Gambit said angrily, closing the distance between them and putting his hands on her shoulders so she was forced to look at him. "You're just going to leave? Run away _again_?"

"I'm not running away," Rogue snapped. "I have a responsibility to Olivier and I'm part of this Guild, oh... and yes, I seem to recall some vows I made to you a year ago. I _keep_ my promises, Remy. But just because I vowed to be faithful to you, doesn't mean I have to sleep in the same room!"

"Hey, I made those vows too, Rogue –"

"Oh really? Because you seem to have forgotten!"

"Why do you trust Viviana more than me?"

"I... I don't trust her..."

"But you trust her more than me!"

"N-no..."

"Well, you _must_," Gambit insisted, "because you're choosing to believe her story over mine."

Rogue was lost for words, her face the picture of helpless rage and despair.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her gently.

"I..." she stammered and her eyes shifted to the side.

"It's not a hard question, Rogue. Do you trust me?"

"I... I want to."

Gambit closed his eyes.

"Yes or no, Rogue," he said firmly. "You either trust me or you don't. Which is it?"

Rogue swallowed hard. A long silence followed. Finally Gambit opened his eyes again and she avoided his gaze.

"If you can't trust me, Rogue, the man who loves you more than anyone else in the world, you will never be able to trust anyone. Do you understand me? You will go through the rest of your life unable to trust a soul. You won't even trust Olivier, and one day he will get tired of it, and he will leave you."

Rogue squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing hard as Gambit let her go. He felt like crap as he opened the door and let himself out, shutting the door gently behind him. She wished he'd slammed it.

* * *

"So," said Henri into the awkward silence in Jean-Luc's office, "we got a call from Italy this morning."

Gambit, sitting with his arms folded in his usual chair, said nothing. His face was grim.

"And?" Jean-Luc prompted when the silence grew too long.

"Giuseppe is fuming about Gambit not completing the job. He's also called Gambit's competency as a Thief, and, umm, as a Patriarch into question, as well as the N'Orleans Guild in general," Henri reported uncomfortably.

"Mmmhmm," Jean-Luc said thoughtfully, leaning his chin on his hands. "Remy? How would you reply to this?"

Gambit was silent for a moment, keeping back what he really wanted to say about the matter.

"Viviana has no respect for the sanctity of marriage," he said finally. "Therefore, I cannot respect her when she continues to disregard my intentions to remain faithful to my wife. In fact, I find her attitude disgraceful, insulting, and what she insinuated to Rogue was downright offensive. I can only assume that she's been keeping some bad company because I've always known Giuseppe to be quite courteous."

Henri snickered. "I like it."

"You can add that I would be happy to work with any other member of the Italy Thieves Guild," Gambit said.

"It'll do, I suppose," Jean-Luc said slowly. "You are aware that your relationship with the Italy Thieves Guild is now going to be forever stained, Remy."

"That was inevitable," Gambit replied. "Sooner or later we would both be the leaders of our respective Guilds. If I had realised at the time that my exile was going to be lifted, I never would have dated her –"

"Ha! That's why it's called 'hindsight', Remy," Henri said, smirking at him. "And you still would have slept with her."

"Ahem," Jean-Luc cut in. "What's done is done. We will simply have to try to salvage the situation –"

"I didn't do anything wrong," Gambit said. "I'm not apologising to anyone."

"- so that our relationships with the other Guilds are not hindered."

"What would they care?" asked Gambit. "They're not involved."

"As they say, actions speak louder than words," Jean-Luc said solemnly. "Your actions reflect upon you and your Guild, Remy, whether you feel they should or not. And the other Guilds should be our friends, not our rivals. The whole point of maintaining good relations with them is to ensure that. Hopefully, what will come out of this is that they will see you as a man of honour, rather than a man who is unreliable."

"Now I have to start caring about what people think of me?" Gambit asked. "This job sucks."

"Speaking of which, if I may change the subject," Henri said, a gleeful smile appearing on his face. "Père and I were discussing who we should ask to be Santa Claus at the Christmas party this year."

"Oh yeah? Who's that?" Gambit asked.

His father and brother looked at him with matching smiles. Gambit groaned and banged his head on the edge of Jean-Luc's desk.

* * *

When Gambit returned to his bedroom later that day, there was no sign of Rogue. Gris Gris was at his desk playing World of Warcraft (Gambit couldn't help but grin). Olivier wasn't in his room, but Gambit wasn't worried as he had seen him in Tante Mattie's care on his way through. Rogue wasn't in their bedroom either. Her things looked largely undisturbed though, which he took as a good sign.

Just as Gambit was considering going back to Tante Mattie and asking if she knew where Rogue was, he spotted a note of his side table. He sat down on the edge of the bed and picked it up.

_Remy,_

_Gone to rob a bank with Zoe and the guys._

_There should be plenty of breast milk in the fridge and freezer for Olivier._

_Rogue_

Gambit sighed. He didn't know whether to be frustrated that she'd effectively run away again, or admire the fact that she'd found a legitimate way of doing it that he couldn't really complain about.

He hated this. He hated the whole thing. Perhaps average people shouldn't trust him, but Rogue was his wife, they had a child together; she wasn't average by any means. He wasn't Mystique or Bobby, nor had he ever given her any reason to think that she couldn't trust him. He was trying not to take it personally, but it hurt.

It hurt a lot.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN:**

As mentioned before, Zoe and Shirow are comic-canon. The story Zoe tells is more or less what happened in the comics (the early issues of "Gambit" series 3). I altered the ending slightly to fit in with this continuity.

* * *

**Chapter 15**

It was silent in Zoe's car as she drove down the highway. The 'guys' car was not far behind her. Zoe glanced over at Rogue, who was staring sullenly out the window. Zoe had been looking forward to doing a job with Rogue, but her obvious bad mood was taking all the fun out of it.

"Did something happen?" Zoe asked finally. "Did you and Remy have a fight? Because I didn't think he was due to come back for another week and –"

"I don't really want to talk about it right now," Rogue replied.

"Okay, well, if you change your mind..."

"Thanks."

Silence fell once more.

"Zoe?" Rogue said after a time. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go right ahead," Zoe replied.

"I've just been curious – you don't have to answer if you don't want to – but... why did you get excommunicated from the Tokyo Thieves Guild?"

Zoe was quiet for a moment. Just as Rogue was thinking she wasn't going to get an answer (not that she blamed her), Zoe spoke up:

"My brother, Shirow, is a mutant with the ability to produce a special gas from his body. I know this is going to sound a little crazy but... this gas is a will-sapping gas. You get a lungful of this stuff and you will do anything you're told, even if you're told to walk off a cliff."

"Wow," Rogue said softly.

"Anyway," Zoe went on, "when his ability emerged, the Guild sent him off to some scientists. They told me they were going to help him but... but they were really planning on milking him like a cow and selling the gas on the black market. I rescued him as soon as I found out what was really going on and... well yeah, that's how we got excommunicated. We got chased here by another guy who had heard about Shirow and wanted to exploit him too. Remy ended up helping us, actually, and then we got accepted into the New Orleans Thieves Guild."

Rogue nodded. "I don't think I've ever met Shirow."

"You wouldn't have," Zoe replied. "After everything settled down, Remy mentioned a couple of mutant schools he knew about; Xavier's in New York state, and the Massachusetts Academy. Said as far as education was concerned, they were both pretty much the same; both schools for mutants, with mutant teachers and telepathic headmasters."

Rogue laughed.

"He must have gone to the Academy, then?" Rogue said. "Unless he went to Xavier's after I left."

"No, he went to the Academy," Zoe said with a nod. "Their headmistress – Emma Frost – she's a high ranking member of the Hellfire Club. We figured Shirow would be more likely to make some valuable connections at the Academy. He graduated last year."

"And he has valuable connections?" Rogue asked, only half-teasing.

"Hell yes," Zoe replied, grinning. "In fact, he's hopeful about being offered a place in the Hellfire Club in a couple of years. For now, he's busy studying."

"What is he studying?"

"Medicine. Neurochemistry or neurology or... neuro-something," Zoe replied. "He's interested in how the gas he produces actually works."

"I would be too."

"Oh, and he's also studying stealing," Zoe added with a grin. "We wouldn't want his skills as a thief to fall short now, would we?"

Rogue laughed and another silence fell.

"How did you know?" Rogue asked finally. "I mean, know that the N'Orleans Guild wouldn't try to exploit Shirow like the Toyko Guild or that other guy did?"

"I didn't," Zoe replied. "But I needed help, so I needed to trust them."

Rogue paused. "Right."

Zoe glanced over at Rogue again.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about... whatever's bothering you?" she asked.

Another silence followed.

"I found out I had a brother a few weeks ago," Rogue said.

"Oh yeah?" Zoe asked curiously.

"Yeah. His name's Kurt. He's the son of my adopted mother. We met a few years ago and he didn't even know she was his birth mother until recently. He's pretty cool. He's a priest."

"Wow..." Zoe said. "So, ahh, what does he think of you being a thief?"

"I was afraid to ask," Rogue admitted with a giggle.

Zoe chuckled.

"Actually, I'm not... I mean on the one hand it's nice to have a brother, I guess," Rogue said thoughtfully. "On the other hand, we didn't really grow up together. I don't really know him and we don't really have a brother/sister relationship so... I don't know. I guess I'm wondering, if I could ever trust him, you know? Really trust him. He saved my life once, but then Mama also tried to have me killed. And I know they're not the same person, but... And then he's a priest and I'm a thief. And... and I just don't know."

"And I don't know what to tell you," Zoe replied. "I guess, it's nice to be able to say 'you have to earn trust', but sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and choose to trust someone before they've had a chance to earn it. Like this robbery for example; the guys and I are taking a leap of faith choosing to trust you."

Rogue frowned. "You are?"

"Uh huh. We know you as a friend, but we don't know you as a colleague," Zoe said seriously. "We have no idea how you behave on the job, but we're trusting you to get us physically in and out of the bank, loot and all. We have no way of knowing you won't just take the loot and leave us in the vault or something."

"I wouldn't do that!"

Zoe turned her head briefly to grin at Rogue. "But we don't _know_ that. We're _trusting_ you. I mean, sure, you have rank in the Guild and everything, but it wouldn't be the first time betrayal has occurred within the Guild."

"Well... I... I guess so."

Zoe chuckled.

"Trusting people has its risks," she said. "I trusted the Toyko Guild. They were our friends and family, and I trusted them to look after Shirow, but they were more interested in themselves, rather than training a member of their own Guild. Believe me, that stung. But, you live and learn. You move on. And you keep taking risks. Sometimes it'll work out, sometimes it won't; but at the end of the day, you can't do everything by yourself."

"I suppose not," Rogue conceded.

There was silence for a moment.

"You know," Zoe said slyly, "your brother probably doesn't know whether he can trust you or not either. I mean, you are a thief. How does he know you're not going to take advantage of him and rob him?"

Rogue giggled.

"I didn't think of it that way," she said.

"See? This trust stuff works both ways," Zoe said. "And you know what? I think that's way too much heavy conversation for one car trip."

Rogue chuckled as Zoe turned on the radio.

* * *

Some hours later, Rogue looked out from the balcony of the hotel room she and Zoe were sharing. The guys had a room next door.

"That's it," Zoe said from where she stood beside Rogue. "That's the bank, right there."

"Seriously?" Rogue asked in surprise, looking at where Zoe was pointing out the back of the bank.

"Yep," Zoe replied. "Andre and I came here for another job a few years back, that's how we noticed it. There's the cop shop over there."

"Interesting... you stayed in a hotel near a police station?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zoe laughed.

"Well, first, that's not something hotels always advertise," Zoe said. "And for another, it's not like there's a warrant out on us or anything, so there's no point in trying to avoid them. If anything, being right under their nose makes it all the more fun."

Rogue chuckled.

Rogue found that the others had put their plans into motion some time ago, when they'd originally conceived the idea of robbing this particular bank. Andre got into the vault, having opened a security deposit box there previously. This gave the team a chance to check up on any potential security upgrades and afforded Andre the chance to plant the device they needed in order to hack into the system.

They gave it a few more days, using the time to case the place and confirm the notes from the last time they'd checked things out, as well as doing the usual touristy stuff to avoid any hotel staff seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Finally, the night of the robbery arrived. Earlier that day, the five had left with reasonably stuffed backpacks. They spent the day doing the touristy thing that they had intended on doing, but instead of heading back to the hotel as soon as they got back, they headed to the bank. In their backpacks were dark jackets and hoodies to match their dark pants, as well as gloves and beanies, all of which they put on as soon as they were out of public view. Stephane used his phone to disable security (as previously setup with his laptop, still on at the hotel).

Rogue had made a slight alteration to the plans to phase them through the back wall – instead of phasing her friends, she phased the wall. Rogue also shape-shifted so she matched the wall, just in case a police officer looked out at an inopportune moment, although they considered this unlikely if they didn't hear a disturbance.

As soon as her friends were through, Rogue phased through herself and shape-shifted back to normal.

"That was so cool," Zoe said, grinning at her.

"Heh, yeah," Brad agreed.

"Come on," said Stephane. "Let's get to work."

The team worked swiftly then. The security deposit boxes were opened and things of interest removed. The cash was inspected for dye packs before also being removed. Everything was shared amongst their five bags, one for each of them.

Finally, the hard part; getting the loot back to the hotel without being notice by either the police or by any guests in the hotel. Rogue phased her head through and borrowed Logan's senses. After a moment she pulled back.

"No one on the balconies or at the windows," she reported. "Obviously, I can't account for the cops."

"All right," said Andre. "Let's go."

Rogue repeated her wall-phasing trick from before and the five casually made their way across from the bank to the hotel. Their beanies and gloves made their way into their pockets, and the five entered the hotel through the entrance like they had done nothing more than gone hiking all day.

The five were swift to pack up. They caught a few hours sleep, and then checked out of the hotel before the bank staff were due to arrive at work.

* * *

Gambit was nervous about Rogue's return. They hadn't really spoken much since she left and he was missing her like crazy. At the same time, he was also apprehensive, worried that things might be strained between them. He really hoped they could get past this.

He looked into the downstairs living room and spotted Mercy reading her book.

"Hey," he said. "Come to pick up Oli. Thanks for looking after him for me."

Mercy looked up, confused.

"Oh," she said. "Rogue already picked him up... I don't know, half an hour ago?"

"She's back already?" Gambit asked. "Huh, I wasn't expecting her back until this afternoon."

"Pleasant surprise?" Mercy asked with a grin.

"I hope so," he replied. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome," she called after him, and returned to her book as Gambit left her view.

Gambit made his way upstairs. Only Gris Gris was in their living room, so his next stop was for Olivier's room. He opened the door slowly and smiled when his eyes fell on Rogue holding and talking to Olivier on the lounge chair. There was a little soft photo album with them, one that they had bought for Olivier as a toy and filled with photos of family members.

"Hey," he said softly.

Rogue's head shot up.

"Hey," she said.

"When did you get back? I didn't think you would be back until later," Gambit said, walking into the room and kneeling down beside them.

"About an hour ago," she replied. "Surprise."

Gambit chuckled and leaned on the arm of the chair.

"How'd the bank robbery go?" he asked. Olivier reached out his hand and grabbed at Gambit's nose.

"Good," Rogue replied.

"Pa," Olivier said.

["Yes, Oli, Papa's here,"] Gambit replied, smiling. ["It's nice having Mama back, isn't it?"]

"Pa," Olivier said.

"You know," Rogue said, "maybe I should have waited before picking up Oli."

"Oh?" Gambit asked and lifted his head to see the wickedly coy expression on her face. "Oh... right now?"

"Hmm," Rogue said as she stood up and carefully put Olivier back in his crib with the album. "So reluctant?"

"Well," Gambit said as he stood up, "we were in the middle of a fight when you left."

"Ugh," Rogue replied, grabbing hold of Gambit's collar and hauling him out towards their bedroom. "Forget that."

"Forget? I don't think we can just –"

Rogue pressed her finger to his lips.

"Shh," she said. "We'll talk later. Robbing banks makes me horny."

Simultaneously, Rogue pulled him towards the bed and kissed him, her lips hard against hers and silencing his argument. Another argument came to his mind, and he put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away sharply. His eyes were cold.

"You're not Rogue," he said.

A sly smile appeared on her lips as her hands moved unrestrained across his clothed body.

"Okay," she said agreeably. "Who am I then? One of the maids? Shall I get one of their uniforms?"

"You're a shape-shifter," Gambit said coldly, catching her hands, "posing as my wife."

"Oooh, naughty, naughty," she said, pressing up against him and biting her bottom lip. "I like it when you're creative."

"That's funny," Gambit replied, jerking slightly as her leg snaked around him, tripping him up slightly, "because I don't like you at all."

"Mmm," she replied, pushing him down on the bed. "You're really getting into this. Why _am _I posing as your wife, anyway?"

He rolled out from under her and slipped off the side of the bed.

"Why don't you tell me?" he asked as he backed away from her.

"No, I don't think so," she replied, using the bed post to swing around and face him. "If I were really a shape-shifter, I think the last thing I'd do is tell you why."

She paused and watched him slyly as he walked around her.

"I think," she went on, pressing her back to the bed post and running her hands along the sides, "that you should try and make me tell you."

"Huh, you do, do you?" Gambit asked, continuing around to Rogue's side of the bed.

"Uh huh," she said, now running her hands down herself. "I promise you, I'm a tough nut to crack."

Gambit opened up Rogue's top drawer.

"Oh good," he said and lifted out a pair of handcuffs. "Think these'll help?"

"Absolutely," she replied, her eyes glittering.

They both knew Gambit was right and the shape-shifter wouldn't concede that fact. Gambit walked casually back over to her, knowing perfectly well that at her first opportunity she wouldn't hesitate to press her advantage.

Rogue-who-was-not-Rogue pushed away from the bed as Gambit approached. At first they circled each other, like two dogs fighting over the one rabbit. Each waited for the other to make the first move, to make the first mistake, and neither was in any rush to close the distance.

Gambit dangled the handcuffs almost lazily from his fingers, the picture of nonchalance. He looked forward to finding out who was posing as his wife and making her - or him - pay, not only for the insult to Rogue, but for having the audacity to go near Olivier. To say nothing of actually finding out why in the first place.

They circled continuously, and when the shape-shifter's back was to the bed for the seventh or eighth time, the handcuffs slipped from Gambit's fingers. The shape-shifter immediately reacted; not realising that Gambit wasn't quite as distracted as she thought. Although Gambit had knelt to pick up the handcuffs, he was well able to catch her ankle as she launched a kick at his head. A second pair of handcuffs appeared out of no-where - really Gambit's sleeve - locked around her ankle and a second later the other half was locked around the decorative bar at the end of the bed.

Gambit scampered backwards, grabbed the first pair of handcuffs off the floor and stood, a smirk on his face. The shape-shifter was at a distinct disadvantage now, what with the second pair of handcuffs trapping her right leg upwards. She tried to free her ankle, but to no avail and she couldn't afford to take her eyes off Gambit too long.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"What?" she responded. "You think that's enough to get me to talk? You're going to have to try much harder than that, lover-boy."

"Keeping up the pretence, are we? Fine," Gambit replied. "I'm waiting."

There was silence while Gambit smirked mischievously at the shape-shifter and she glared back at him.

"Waiting for what?" she asked finally.

"Waiting to hear what Rogue usually says when I handcuff her to the bed," he answered and he winked at her.

The shape-shifted pursed her lips. What Rogue usually said was: "Very funny, Swamp Rat. Now give me back my lock picks."

"Why don't you come over here, and I'll whisper it to you," she replied.

"Dirty fille," Gambit replied cockily.

He swaggered over, his hands apparently behind his back, just as the shape-shifter's hands were behind hers. Their eyes were locked as Gambit approached and leaned in. The hands came out; one of Gambit's with the handcuffs, and one of hers with a six-inch blade.

Gambit free hand wrestled with her knife hand as she attempted to plunge it into him. He succeeded in locking the handcuffs around the other hand, but her knife hand had momentum on its side and was dangerously close. He pressed into her, forcing her against the bed post. The shape-shifter seemed to realised he was gaining the advantage.

"By the way," she said as she transformed into a black-haired man. "The name's Questa."

Gambit faltered and the knife slit his coat. Gambit only just managed to slide out of the way in time before the blade could penetrate any deeper. That couldn't be right. Questa wouldn't go against Bella Donna, and in any case, he was supposed to be impersonating Gris Gris right about now. Besides, it was against protocol for Assassins to reveal who they were while on a mission.

Gambit still had hold of the handcuffs, however, and when he dodged out of the way of the knife, he moved around the shape-shifter, taking the handcuffed arm with him. Despite her - his? - struggling, Gambit succeeded in pulling it around the bed post. The shape-shifter thrust out blindly with the knife, knowing Gambit was behind and trying to at least poke an eye out or something. Gambit managed to grab some of the knife hand with his spare one, and with his other locked the other half of the handcuffs in place, so that the shape-shifter was now trapped on the end of the bed. Both hands now free, Gambit managed to wrench the knife away and backed off.

"Hmm," Gambit considered. "No nicks on the bed. That's good. It's a valuable antique. Been in the family for generations. And Rogue adores it. I'd hate for anything to happen to it."

The shape-shifter cursed at him. Gambit ignored it and put the knife down on the table. He then pulled out his phone and rang Henri.

"Remy," Henri said as soon as he answered, "I'm in the middle of -"

"I have a shape-shifter in my room, who posed as Rogue so she could try to kill me and is now claiming to be Questa," Gambit cut in, his eyes on the shape-shifter.

"I guess it is important then," Henri replied. "Questa huh?"

"Oui. Revealing himself bought him a tactical advantage, even if it was ultimately futile," Gambit said with false laziness.

"Not buying it?"

"Well, if the Assassins wanted to start a war, this would be the way to do it."

"You're still looking at him, aren't you?"

"Oui."

"Okay, send me a photo," Henri decided. "I'll show it to our guest and see what he thinks. Damn, you said he posed as Rogue?"

"Oui."

"Gris Gris would have known Rogue was away, and that she was coming back today..."

"You're not seriously suggesting that -" Gambit said and cut himself off, not wanting to voice his objection in front of the shape-shifter.

"I don't consider it likely either, but we can't rule out the possibility that we were set up," Henri replied firmly. "Call Rogue, find out exactly when she's due back. I'll talk to Gris Gris. See you soon."

They hung up and Gambit rang Rogue.

"Hi sugar," she said pleasantly upon answering.

"Hi chére," he replied. "What time you due home?"

"Umm... about two, give or take."

"All right then."

There was a paused and then Rogue asked: "Is something wrong?"

"Oui," Gambit replied after a pause of his own. "Someone posing as you just tried to kill me."

There was something gratifying about the swearing that followed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Gris Gris took one look at the photo Henri showed him on his phone and said: "That's not Questa."

"You know just like that, do you?" Henri asked with raised eyebrows.

"Oui," Gris Gris replied. "When was this taken?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Henri said coolly, "in Remy's bedroom. After he tried to kill him while posing as Rogue."

"That's not Questa," Gris Gris repeated firmly.

"How do you know?" Henri asked.

"Trade secret," Gris Gris snapped. "You can't honestly believe that Bella Donna has anything to gain by assassinating Gambit."

"Maybe not Bella Donna," Henri replied calmly.

Gris Gris narrowed his eyes. "Listen, just because the Thieves are willing to sell out their own mothers -"

"I really don't think now is the best time to call the loyalty of our Guild members into question," Henri cut in. "After all, it's the Assassins, not the Thieves, who are having a loyalty problem at the moment. But... as it happens, you're right. I'm not inclined to believe that you've set us up. I'm sure you can't blame me for thinking it, though."

Gris Gris relaxed only slightly.

"Questa's the only shape-shifter we have in the Guild, unless someone's been hiding something from the rest of us," Gris Gris said. "So either our rogue, erm, mutinous Assassins hired this shape-shifter when Gambit stopped going out after Rogue was shot, or it's someone else altogether, impersonating Questa for their own reasons."

"Either way, we can't let him see you," Henri said. "You'll be guarded while we question him. Her. Whichever it is."

"I don't need your protection," Gris Gris replied.

"Sure you do," Henri answered cheekily. "You play WoW don't you? Clearly you need protection from yourself."

"Hey," Gris Gris objected. "I get enough of that crap at home without getting it here too. Besides, Gambit plays it too."

"Yeah, and I give him crap about it too," Henri said. "You're not special. It's only for a few hours anyway. We've got someone very... talented... coming in to do the questioning."

"Aww, I don't get to sit in on your interrogation?" Gris Gris asked, grinning. "I'd love to see how you Thieves do these things."

Henri grinned back at him. "Trade secret."

* * *

The Thieves that Henri organised to aid them were the five that had apprehended Gris Gris the night of his arrival. One Thief joined Gambit, two stood guard outside his door, and the other two stood in the living room while Gris Gris went back to playing World of Warcraft (he really didn't have a whole lot to do). Since the shape-shifter was so neatly trussed up (and uncomfortable) where he was, the Thieves let him stay there. The shape-shifter did make numerous attempts to escape of course, but no one went near him and all kept a close eye on him.

Gambit's head shot up as the bedroom door flew open. Rogue stalked in, her eyes narrowed and a dark expression on her face that gave Gambit the impression she had been stewing on the attempted murder all the way home. Henri was behind her, trying - and failing - to hide a big grin while the other Thieves looked startled.

"You!" Rogue declared, pointing at the shape-shifter and storming over. "You filthy, slimey, scum-sucking fishbait!"

Gambit hid his smile as Rogue slammed her fist across the shape-shifter's face. A moment later, Rogue began the absorption and the shape-shifter changed once more; into Mystique.

"You pissing off the mother-in-law, Remy?" asked Henri.

"Apparently," Gambit replied. "It does explain her interest in Olivier. Remind me to get Mercy something really special as a thank you, by the way."

"Oh, I will."

At last Rogue let go and Mystique slumped to the ground. Rogue closed her eyes.

"Rogue?" Gambit asked when the silence dragged out.

"She was hired by Pierre Thomas," Rogue said finally, "because he knew with her abilities she'd be able to get in here where he couldn't."

"Pierre Thomas?" asked the other Thief. "Isn't he the last First Kill?"

"Oui," Henri said. "Rogue? Anything else?"

"She took the job because she hates Remy - for dubious reasons, I might add," Rogue replied dourly. "Thomas told her she was to give the impression of Assassin Guild involvement, which was why she chose Questa's form. I got nothing else relevant to this incident from her."

"Alright then," Henri said. "I guess now it's just a matter of deciding what to do with her."

Silence followed.

"Can't let her leave," Henri went on when no one said anything, "not while her job's incomplete. Can't keep her here either – we just don't have the facilities for that kind of thing."

There was another silence, and then the other Thief piped up awkwardly: "Well we do have a... a _friend_ in the next room."

"I'm going to let her go," Rogue said as she pulled out a pen and paper.

"Oh, _you_ are, are you?" Henri challenged her.

"Yes," Rogue replied and Gambit raised his eyebrow at the shake in her voice. "She's going to be far too busy securing her property to bother reporting her failure to Thomas, or to make another attempt."

"And you know that because?" Henri asked.

"Because," Rogue said as she wrote on the paper, "she's going to know that I know where all her bank accounts, safe houses and other stashes are. It took her three months to relocate everything last time I absorbed her and I didn't even go looking for that information. It will be much easier for me to destroy her fortune than it will be for her to save it."

"If she tries to cause any more trouble, she doesn't know that you won't go after her property in retaliation," Gambit said slowly. "And this could all be over in three months."

"It's a big risk," Henri said hesitantly. "I'm almost inclined to –"

"It makes us even," Rogue said tightly. "I'll never give her another chance after this."

They got nothing else out of Rogue after that. She finished writing her note, a list of different bank accounts and locations of value to Mystique, and placed it on her person. The Thieves undid the handcuffs that bound Mystique and carried her comatose body out, planning to dump her outside of the Louisiana border.

Gambit closed the door after them, leaving him alone with his wife. He turned back to look at Rogue, who was standing by one of the windows and leaning on the frame.

"What do you mean, 'now you're even'?" he asked her. "If I recall correctly, Mystique abandoned you, conspired to kill you and then tried to kill me. Not to mention paying an unsolicited visit to Olivier."

Rogue was quiet for a moment.

"My Aunt Irene was a precog," she replied finally. "She had a vision that if I stayed with them and joined the Brotherhood when my powers manifested, that I wouldn't live to see my eighteenth birthday."

"You believe that?" Gambit asked slowly.

Rogue gave a short, hysterical laugh.

"But don't you see, Remy? She was right!" Rogue said, choking back a sob. "If they hadn't abandoned me, I never would have been disowned by my foster parents, and I never would have met Logan. Magneto still would have used me in his machine, but even if the X-men had been there to stop him, Logan wouldn't have had any reason to be there, and couldn't have saved my life."

Gambit made his way over to her and carefully wrapped his arms around her.

"Rogue," he said softly. "She could have done a better job if she hadn't sold you out at all."

"What? And seen Magneto die instead?" Rogue asked. "The way things turned out, she got to keep two people she cared about, which is more than I can say for Aunt Irene, who died four years ago, and I had no idea until just a few minutes ago! All this time I thought she'd turned her back on me and I wanted to hate her and all this time she was just trying to protect me and I can't even... I can't even go back and..."

All efforts to hold back the tears failed and Rogue dissolved into a flood, soaking Gambit's shirt as he held her close. He rubbed her back gently.

"Well," he said when her sobs started to subside, "you did say Aunt Irene was a precog, right? So I'm guessing she already knew how you'd feel right about now."

The sound that emerged from Rogue's lips was half sob, half laugh. Gambit allowed himself a smile and lifted her head with one hand while the other ran through her hair.

"I think it's good that you finally know why they left you," he said softly. "I also think that... that there's a certain discussion that you and I need to have, that's been put off for two weeks now."

Rogue pushed away.

"I really don't want to talk about that right now," she said, turning her back on him and looking out the window.

"So, when are you going to want to talk about it?" Gambit demanded. "Tomorrow? Next week? A month? A year? No, Rogue. The subject is already open now, and we're talking about it now. I don't want this cloud hanging over us any longer."

"I was wrong about Viviana," Rogue said, half turning her head back towards him. "I'm sorry. There. End of –"

"No, it's not the end!" Gambit objected, slamming the side of his fist into the wall. "You think I'm capable of cheating on you. Worse, you _married_ me thinking I was capable of doing that."

"Well I'm sorry if I've gotten used to the people I love up and leaving me," Rogue snapped back at him, glaring furiously at the window.

"You want to know what I was thinking when we got married? I was thinking it was too soon."

Rogue froze.

"Looks like I was right, huh?" Gambit went on angrily, moving around in front of her and holding her arms so she couldn't turn her back on him again. "We did get married too soon. Worrying that I'm going to leave you while we're dating is... okay. But it's definitely not okay while we're married. We should have worked through that before we tied the knot, but we didn't and now look at us! One compromising position, not of my making, and you've taken flight. I am _not_ going to go through the rest of my life wondering if today is going to be the day _you're_ going to leave _me_, because of something someone else did."

"I'm not going to do that again," Rogue said irritably, still glaring out the window. "I promise that should you ever get caught in a compromising position again, I'm going to wait until I've had a chance to talk to you before deciding to pack my bags. Happy now?"

"I'd be happier if you looked at me," Gambit snapped at her. "I'd be happier if you trusted me."

Rogue sighed and closed her eyes.

"I do trust you, Remy," she said softly. "But I also trusted Mystique and Aunt Irene, my foster parents, Kitty and Bobby and Logan. And in the end, every one of them left me. So you'll excuse me if loving you this much scares me. I don't want to be abandoned again."

Gambit sighed.

"I'm not any of those people, Rogue," he said as she finally met his eyes. "And I don't deserve to be treated that way."

"I know," she said, sniffled loudly and walked away to get a tissue. "I know and I want so much to be able to say that I trust you completely. Hell, until this whole thing with Viviana, I thought I did!"

She blew her nose, and wiped it.

"And I know it's not what you want to hear," she went on, "but I'm going to need time, okay? I need to... to... to find some way of training out this expectation that everyone I love is going to betray me. And to be honest, I don't even know where to start, but I'm going to _try_, okay?"

"Yeah, it's definitely not what I want to hear," Gambit said, "but it's the truth, I suppose, so I guess I'll settle for that."

Rogue let out a small laugh despite herself. "You'd prefer me to lie to you, sugar?"

Gambit cracked a smile. "Well, it might make me feel better..."

"Hmph. I know plenty of ways of making you feel better without stooping to lying to you," Rogue replied with a dismissing wave of her hand. "And changing the subject completely, how's Olivier?"

"He's good. He's with Mercy at the moment, but - and I could be biased here – I think he's been missing his Mama," Gambit replied, once again closing the distance between them.

"None the worse for wear for Mystique's visit?"

"Don't think so. And actually, I think I'm a little relieved it turned out to be Mystique and not someone else," he said thoughtfully. "At least with Mystique, I can imagine she wanted to spend some time with her grandson."

"Hmph," Rogue sniffed. "If she comes near you, or Oli, or any siblings he might have in the future, I'm going to kick her ass three ways to Tuesday."

"Is Oli going to have a problem bringing home girlfriends?" Gambit asked mischievously. "Are you going to worry about them stealing him away from you?"

"No," Rogue replied firmly. "I'm not going to turn into Mystique."

"Oh?"

"That's why she hates you, Remy," Rogue said with a nod. "She thinks you've stolen me away from her and corrupted me."

"Hmm, I see she's cottoned onto my little scheme," Gambit said, rubbing his chin.

Rogue laughed and threw her snotty tissue at him.

* * *

"Pierre Thomas hired her?" Gris Gris repeated.

He was meeting with Henri, Jean-Luc and Gambit in the living room. Rogue was in Olivier's room, busy playing with her son for the first time in two weeks.

"Oui," Gambit replied.

"Hmph," Gris Gris snorted. "I don't suppose you got an address did you?"

"An address? No..." Gambit replied, frowning.

Gris Gris grinned at them.

"We've pretty much suspected Thomas the whole time, Mostly because his parting words to us the day he... retired was that he was going to fix all of Bella Donna's mistakes, and that the Guild was nothing without him."

"Heh," Gambit said with a smirk, "I can just imagine Belle's reaction to that."

"So, yeah, Thomas being involved? No big surprise. What's irritating is that we know he's got people working for him inside the Guild," Gris Gris went on. "We don't know who, though. Any member of the Thomas clan is suspect – which is one reason why we haven't verbalised our suspicions to the Guild at large – but he's got plenty of friends in other clans."

"Of course," Jean-Luc agreed. "It may only be a couple of members of the Thomas clan that are guilty."

"Exactly. We were hoping we could track down Thomas, find out where he's living and who he's meeting with but... well, that's the problem with trying to hunt down one of our own," Gris Gris said in annoyance, "he knows how to lose us. Only clue we have is his car; couldn't help being a little self-indulgent in his 'retirement' and bought himself a Maserati GranCabrio. We tried tracking the rego number, but..."

Gris Gris shrugged and the Thieves nodded knowingly. Gambit frowned slightly, there was something familiar about a GranCabrio but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Speaking about this trap," said Henri, "it's been three weeks. Aren't they ever going to step into it?"

"Soon, soon," Gris Gris replied with a smirk. "They're doing what we always do; waiting for a lull in the security. See that's the difference between Thieves and Assassins; you're materialistic, and we're 'people' people."

* * *

"I cannot believe I'm running an Assassin through BRD," Gambit muttered.

He was in the living room with Rogue and Gris Gris playing World of Warcraft, all three wearing headsets. His level 80 hunter and his pet wolf "Mipet" were in the Blackrock Depth prisons, with Rogue's level 55 mage and Gris Gris' level 50 rogue. Rogue made her mage wolf-whistle at Gris Gris' avatar as his armour disappeared, leaving a 'naked' Orc to run into the nearest mobs and let them kill him.

"Very funny," Gris Gris said. "Don't you have to go get the Shadowforge key too?"

"Nope," Rogue replied cheerfully. "I got it last time Remy ran me through BRD. Why? You wanted to see a naked Blood Elf?"

"Eh, you can see naked Blood Elves any time," Gambit dismissed.

Gris Gris snickered as his avatar ran back to the instance from the graveyard. "I hate this run."

"Just don't forget to talk to the ghost again after you accept the quest," Rogue said. "Otherwise you'll have to die and do the run again to talk to him a second time before you get the real key quest."

"I hate this run," Gris Gris repeated.

Rogue laughed.

_"I like naked Blood Elves," _said John. _"Especially when their name is 'Wanda'."_

"Stop sucking up," Gambit teased.

_"What's this 'their'?" _Wanda asked.

_"Didn't work anyway,"_ John said with a snicker, and then added quickly: _"Of course, there's only one Wanda in my life..."_

_"Better."_

"So, question," Rogue said slyly. "Do you two take Warcraft into the bedroom? Because as far as I know, Warcraft is the only place you can get Blood Elves..."

"Sure they do," Gambit said before John or Wanda could reply. "They have the Blood Elf nights where they have to be told how gorgeous and sexy they are, and the Troll nights where things get kinky –"

"Why do the Trolls get kinky?" asked Gris Gris.

"Well, they're the ones with bones through their noses," Gambit pointed out.

"Well, not all of them, but yeah," Gris Gris conceded. "They all have tucks though. I imagine that would make oral –"

_"Ugh! No! Shut up!"_ Wanda practically shouted through the speakers. _"I do not want to think about that!"_

"I'm thinking that the Taurens like it vanilla," Gambit mused.

_"Or doggy style,"_ John piped up gleefully.

_"John!"_ Wanda objected.

"And the Orcs are probably into fighting for dominance in the bedroom," Gris Gris said. "That could be hot."

"Yeah, that's always fun," Gambit agreed.

_"Anna! Make them stop!" _Wanda demanded. _"If I wanted my WoW to be sexualised, I'd join a RP server and start ERPing."_

There was a pause and then Rogue said: "Well, I think it's pretty obvious that the Forsaken are into necrophilia..."

_"Argh!" _Wanda exploded while Gambit, Gris Gris and John dissolved into laughter.

* * *

**AN: **

RP = Role Playing

ERP = Erotic Role Playing

The "Forsaken" are undead, which I've probably mentioned before, but for those who may have forgotten, there you go. Hence Rogue's... joke... heh.

I just like seeing Gambit and Gris Gris getting along.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Gris Gris hung up the phone and the breakfast table was silent but for Rogue's aeroplane noises as she fed Olivier.

"Our trap caught a rat last night," Gris Gris said finally.

"That's indeed good news," said Jean-Luc. "I assume that Questa is no worse for wear?"

"Questa's fine, and probably relieved to be out of the Kevlar," Gris Gris replied, looking down at his breakfast, which suddenly seemed rather unappetising.

"Who was it?" Henri asked. "If you don't mind my asking."

"Jean-Bob Thomas," Gris Gris answered, his voice sounding bleak.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Gambit said with a frown, "but isn't he the current Thomas clan leader?"

"Oui," Gris Gris said.

"Hmm," said Jean-Luc. "That doesn't bode well for the Thomas clan at all, does it?"

"No. If the leader's in on it, we have to assume they all are," Gris Gris said, and stood up. "Merci, everyone, for your hospitality, but I should get going."

"Stay and finish breakfast," said Mercy, gesturing to his barely touched plate. "Then we'll blindfold you and lead you out of one of the back entrances so you're not seen walking out of the main one."

Gris Gris looked hesitant, but finally nodded and sat back down.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Gris Gris came swaggering into the Assassins council hall. Thanks to Tante Mattie's ministrations, he didn't need a sling anymore and although his arm was still heavily bandaged, it wasn't too noticeable under his clothes.

Bella Donna was perched on the edge of her desk. Fifolet and the other clan heads were standing in a semi circle around Jean-Bob Thomas, who stood defiantly. Questa and Singer were there, as well as the department heads, the ministers and any other Assassins who could worm their way in there on this occasion. Bella Donna looked up at Gris Gris' entrance.

"Ahh, and the First Kill arrives," she said.

All heads turned to look as Gris Gris made his way to Bella Donna's side, pausing only briefly to lean towards Jean-Bob and say "Missed me."

"No need to rub it in," Bella Donna said, although her tone of voice and the expression on her face clearly said "If you don't rub it in, I will."

Gris Gris smirked.

Bella Donna pushed off her desk and sauntered over to Jean-Bob.

"I am very, very disappointed in you. I thought we were friends and all this time, you've been not only plotting behind my back, but conspiring behind all our backs," Bella Donna said, gesturing to all the others in the council hall. "Plotting and murdering us, and for what? For money? For love?"

Bella Donna looked beseechingly at Jean-Bob and then addressed the hall: "No, for personal power, and for that I hold you in the utmost contempt."

"Blood runs thicker than water, Bella Donna," Jean-Bob replied. "And for that, who are you to criticise me? Your père, Marius Boudreaux, has dementia, has for years. Yet he was surprisingly of sound mind the day of his 'retirement'. Care to tell us how you pulled that one off?"

"Better question," Bella Donna responded, cutting off any murmuring before it could start, "If that's true, why did the council allow a man they knew had dementia continue to lead the Guild when they knew he was no longer of sound mind to do the job? Even Pierre Thomas - your oncle and mon père's best friend – was more interested in his own personal gain than in seeing that Marius got the care he needed."

"So, you admit you rigged the retirement?" Jean-Bob said loudly.

"So you admit your disrespect for my predecessor, and the councils' intentions to use him like a sock puppet?" Bella Donna retorted coolly.

Bella Donna allowed what was left of the old council to huff and object. They were of little consequence; soon enough she would be rid of them, and she wouldn't even have to murder them to do it.

"Blood is thicker than water, you said?" Bella Donna went on comfortably. "Hmm, I guess what you're saying is that the entire Thomas clan is guilty of mutiny? This saddens me, Jean-Bob. It saddens me greatly. There are a lot of good people in the Thomas clan... I would hate to have to execute everyone."

* * *

Henri found out before the Assassins had a clue.

In fact, Henri had to do a double take at the message on his phone, just to be sure he was reading it correctly. Gambit looked up at him from his table in Henri's office as the swear word emerged from his lips.

"What?" Gambit asked.

"Avril's been abducted," Henri said distractedly, looking through his notes for Bella Donna's number.

"Avril?" Gambit repeated. "Bella Donna's daughter?"

"Oui," Henri replied. "My contact at the Assassins Guild just saw the whole thing. She can't tell Bella Donna herself so..."

"She?"

"Now isn't the time, Remy," Henri practically growled at him. "She was taken by members of the Thomas clan."

"They must be really worried," Gambit said with a frown. "The trap was only sprung today."

"Either way, Bella Donna has to know," Henri said. "The sooner she knows, the sooner she can find her."

"But will it be soon enough?" Gambit said thoughtfully. "They do kill people for a living after all. If Belle doesn't find her in time, or if Avril doesn't escape, she's dead."

"If they want her dead, why abduct her?" asked Henri and then found the number he was after: "Ah ha!"

Gambit was quiet while Henri punched in the number.

"Because someone else wants the honours," Gambit said finally. "Pierre Thomas, for example."

"Dammit Bella Donna," Henri muttered. "I don't want your stupid voice mail! Remy, you don't happen to have Gris Gris' number do you?"

"Hmm? Oh... no, unless Gris Gris is playing WoW right now, I have no idea how to contact him," Gambit replied, frowning in thought. "What car did Gris Gris say Thomas drove?"

"Hell, I don't know," Henri said as he tried another number on his phone. "A Maserati something?"

"GranCabrio," Gambit said, snapping his fingers. "Ah ha!"

"What, you think of something?" Henri asked.

"I know where I've seen one before," Gambit said, pulling out a street map. "A few times, actually. Back when you guys used to let me leave the Hall to go shopping – all those months back –"

"Remy," Henri began, before getting irritated at the lack of response on the new number.

"I used to see a GranCabrio occasionally in the parking lot," he went on as he started marking points on the map. "It was there the day my brake line got cut _and_ prior to that, a GranCabrio tailed me. I think it's safe to assume that that's Thomas' little indulgence. Now, do you know why I go to that particular store, Henri?"

"Umm, if it's the same one I usually go to, because it's close?" Henri replied.

"Exactly," Gambit replied. "No one ever travels further than they need to to go grocery shopping. Which means, unless he's going out of his way, Thomas probably lives somewhere around here."

Gambit turned the map around and indicated the area he'd circled.

"That's still a lot of ground to cover," Henri said, dialling another number. "And it's not a whole lot of help if his car's in the garage or he's out and about."

"Well," Gambit said as he studied the map, "it's a start anyway."

Anything Henri might have said in response was cut off by someone actually answering the phone. Henri introduced himself and then demanded to be put through to Bella Donna. He was sure he was putting both Guilds into an awkward position by doing this, but had it been Claude or Lucian at stake, he'd want Bella Donna to contact him if she knew anything, politics be damned.

Gambit's eyes ran over the map. At first nothing jumped out at him, but then he realised that the restaurant that he and Rogue had eaten at the night she'd been shot was in the area. He pulled out the pen again and traced the route they would have taken. While Henri was still demanding to be heard, Gambit grabbed his trench coat off the back of his chair and hurriedly left the room.

* * *

It turned out surprisingly easy for Gambit to locate Pierre Thomas' home. The GranCabrio might not have conveniently in the driveway, but there was an Assassins Guild van; the perfect vehicle for smuggling out a teenage girl trained to kill. Gambit stopped long enough to message the address to Henri and then made his way in through the side gate.

Gambit remained watchful for traps. While he didn't think security would be too heavy, especially as he had guests over, Gambit also knew the former First Kill was aware of the tricks of Assassins and Thieves alike, and would be prepared. His cautioned was vindicated when he spotted an infrared beam across one of the upstairs window sills. Being able to see in the infrared spectrum more than made up for being light sensitive.

He continued his way around the house, looking carefully through the windows and doing his best not to be seen by anyone inside or by any neighbours. Gambit knew instantly when he found where Avril was being held; it was the only room where the thick curtains were shut. He put his listening device to the window and pressed his ear against it, but didn't hear anything of interest. He was reluctant to just barge in there without knowing how many people might be there, or what state Avril might be in.

Gambit made his way around to the side door and frowned slightly at the lack of evident security. The door swung inwards, and were it his place, Gambit would make sure there was some sort of trap on the other side of the door so that when it was opened it would trigger before there was any chance to disarm it. He continued around until he got to the back sliding doors. The adjourning room was empty, and the glass door was open, no doubt to let the breeze through. The screen door was locked, but this time Gambit was able to identify the trap in place and was able to bypass both the trap and the lock to let himself in. He checked his shoes for dirt before stepping onto the light carpet, shut and locked the door behind him, and made his way carefully into the house.

He stopped when he heard voices, and carefully edged closer. Three... no, four people were in the kitchen/dining; three men and a woman, judging by the timbre of their voices.

If his estimates were correct, the room they were holding Avril in was further down the hall, which meant he had to get past the door to the kitchen/dining unseen. Fortunately, opposite the doorway was a painting, and in the glass, Gambit could see into the room. He waited a good ten minutes for an opening, then scampered past the open doorway, dashed to the other side of a cabinet and waited. Once he was convinced none of them had seen him and were going to come out to investigate, Gambit continued quietly down the hall.

Avril's room was the second door he tried. Normally it was an entertaining room, but for now Avril was bound, gagged and blindfolded in a chair in the middle of the room. Avril was quite still, her head bowed and her blonde hair draped in front of her. They'd drugged her, he supposed. That could make things awkward. There was also a camera set up in front of her, but it wasn't on. No doubt planning on making a tape for Bella Donna. The thought made Gambit clench his jaw as he walked over to the windows. There were infrared beams across them, but fortunately the windows opened outward. There'd be no problem getting out.

Gambit turned his attention back to Avril and it was when he stepped behind her that he noticed what he hadn't initially: her hands were moving, struggling to free herself of the ropes that bound her, and already turning red from the effort. She was awake, just playing doggo for anyone who might come in. She hadn't heard him, so she hadn't stopped trying to free her hands. By keeping her head bowed, no one suddenly coming in would see any quick movement and she would be free to continue to pretend to be under the influence of the drugs.

It was a shame the other Assassins would have had the same training.

Gambit deliberately scraped his feet on the carpet as he walked over to her. He put his hands on her blindfold.

"I'm here to help," he said softly as he undid the knot.

Avril stiffened but otherwise didn't respond. Gambit used his powers to break the ropes binding her hands and then took off the gag. Avril glared at him as he lowered his dark sunglasses just long enough so she could see his distinctive eyes.

"You're a Thief," she hissed at him.

Gambit knelt down to undo the ropes binding her legs.

"Good thing for you, petite," he replied. "Quiet now."

Avril glared at him as she rubbed her wrists, suspicion set in her eyes.

"And how do I know you're not the one who tied me up in the first place?" she demanded, if quietly.

"Nah, if I started abducting teenage girls and tying them up, people might get the wrong idea about me."

Avril might have started indignant flustering had not they both heard voices coming down the hall. Gambit undid the last of the rope and glanced towards the window. He didn't have time to bypass the beams without breaking them, and he didn't know what breaking them would do. He might have risked it if he didn't have Bella Donna's daughter to worry about.

His decision made, Gambit indicated a nearby couch which was just far enough away from the wall for Avril to fit. While she was wriggling in behind, Gambit took the more risky hiding spot underneath the piano and hoped that the solid piano stool and the angle would be enough to obscure the view. Just to be on the safe side, he got his playing cards and his staff at the ready.

The pair hid just in time, for the door opened and a man appeared in the doorway.

"She's gone!" he exclaimed as he stepped into the room.

The other three - including an older gentleman that looked strangely familiar whom Gambit presumed to be Pierre Thomas – entered the room and began their own inspection.

"The little brat couldn't have gone that far," said one of the others.

Behind the couch, Avril bit down on her bottom lip in an effort to keep from crying out. Her hands felt like they were on fire, and she knew it wasn't rope burn. Gambit hadn't done something to her with his powers, had he?

"Hmm," said the woman, picking up the broken ropes and inspecting the ends. "These have been burned."

"We can ask her about it when we find her," said Pierre. "Now _find her_."

Gambit froze as he heard a whimper from behind the couch. Oh come on! Sure, these guys were plotting to kill her, but the situation wasn't that scary. Surely Bella Donna would have trained Avril better than that?

The Assassins heard it too. Pierre made a gesture, and the two men walked to either side of the couch while the woman shut the door. The man pulled the couch out of the way, but Avril was far too engrossed in her hands to even notice.

"Alright fille," Pierre began, but cut himself off at an extraordinary sight.

Some form of bright yellow energy crackled around Avril's hands. Balls of the same energy started to form in her palms as tears ran down her cheeks.

"What in the world..." the woman began.

"Stop it, stop it," Avril wept.

"Another mutant," Pierre said, shaking his head. "Get her."

The two men leaned over to pick her up off the floor.

"Just make it stop!" Avril yelled.

She thrust out her arms, one hand pointed at each of the two Assassins attempting to pick her up. The balls flew from her hands and into the torsos of the two men. Both hit the ground instantly. Gambit was grateful he was still wearing his glasses; he may not have been looking directly at it, but the energy light was bright enough that it probably would have blinded him for a couple of hours.

Gambit wasted no time. In a trice he was out from under the piano, three cards flying towards the woman. Too startled and distracted to dodge, they exploded on impact, knocking her hard against the wall and took her out for the count. He extended his staff and was about to turn on Pierre, whom he hadn't had a clear shot for, when Pierre turned on him first, a pistol pointed at him.

Avril stayed where on the floor. She was no longer in pain, but the expended energy had taken its toll.

"Gambit," Pierre said with a snarl. "You should have died over twenty years ago."

Gambit eyed the gun. Pierre was just out of range of his staff.

"You look like you haven't got twenty years left," Gambit replied evenly, his eyes still on the gun. Was it his imagination, or were Pierre's hands shaking?

"I've got more than you do," Pierre replied.

Pierre squeezed the trigger, but Gambit had seen the movement of his finger and had already started to move. The bullet whizzed past, slamming into the wall behind him. The next few moments were almost in slow motion: Gambit stepped towards Pierre as he shot again. Another miss. Gambit whirled his staff into the air. Another shot – lower this time, and a hit, slamming into Gambit's chest and pressing him back. He stepped forward again, another shot, another hit. Gambit's staff crashed down on the gun, knocking it right out of Pierre's grip and sending it flying to the ground. Pierre attempted to lunge for it, but Gambit closed the distance and caught him by the arm before he could get any further. He was surprised by just how boney his arm was; Gambit had been expecting much more muscle.

"Your aim needs some improving, old man," Gambit said smugly

Pierre lifted his head with dignity.

"Go on," said Pierre. "Kill me and get it over with."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Gambit replied. "But no, I'm not here to kill Assassins. I'm just here for Avril."

"You killed Gwen," Pierre accused him.

"Gwen? Oh, the femme? Non, she's not dead, just knocked herself out," Gambit said calmly. "I didn't charge the cards enough to kill. Sit."

Gambit enforced the order by pressing Pierre down on the chair they'd previously tied Avril to. The downside to blowing up the ropes to take them off Avril was that he now couldn't use them to tie up Pierre. Fortunately, Gambit had duct tape.

"You alright, petite?" Gambit asked as he taped Pierre in place.

"Oui," Avril replied firmly after a moment's pause, her pride requiring nothing less.

"Bon. Check the others, please."

Avril nodded and checked over the bodies while Gambit blindfolded and gagged Pierre.

"These deux are dead," Avril said after a minute. "You're right about Gwen being unconscious."

"Bon," Gambit said and tossed her the duct tape. "Take care of her, will you, petite?"

"What are you doing?" she asked, a little put off by being ordered around.

"Getting us out of here," he replied, opening up the curtains.

"Umm, there's this thing," Avril said cynically. "It's called a door."

"Aww, but it's far more fun breaking out of the booby-trapped window," Gambit answered cheerfully.

"You're weird."

"I see your mère doesn't talk about me very much."

Gambit was rather pleased to find that a year off any real stealing hadn't dulled his skills any. It took him hardly any time to bypass the beams and get the window open. When Avril was done, she slipped through the gap. Gambit followed suit, removed his equipment and shut the window again. The window led to the side of the house and together they walked down to the front.

"Well, well, petite," Gambit said as they got to the corner of the house. "Looks like your mère is here already."

Indeed, out the front were two new cars. One was still parking, but Bella Donna was storming out of the other right towards the front door.

"And this is where I depart," Gambit said firmly to Avril. "Tell your mère I was here, but no one else unless she says otherwise."

"Why?" Avril asked, frowning at him.

"Trust me, it's better this way," Gambit replied. "It's called politics. I shouldn't have come at all."

"So why did you?"

"How old are you now?"

"Fifteen."

Gambit nodded. "I was abducted when I was fifteen as well. I should go, and so should you. Sounds like your mère's going to break down that door."

"Yeah," Avril replied, smiling despite herself.

She looked around the corner to see Bella Donna taking a gun to the door handle, and then turned back to say good bye, but Gambit was already gone. She hadn't even heard him leave.

* * *

**AN:**

And while we're on the subject of mutant powers:

Gambit being able to see in the dark, and infrared vision, are only fan theories as far as I know. Light sensitivity was something that was mentioned in one of the AoA stories, but to my knowledge hasn't been mentioned in the mainstream series.

Bella Donna's first appearance in the comics came with mutant abilities; plasma blasts and astral projection. She hasn't been seen using her powers since, haha.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The door to Jean-Luc's office opened and Jean-Luc and Henri looked up.

"Where the hell have you been?" Henri demanded the moment he laid eyes on his wayward brother.

"That's a silly question, don't you think, mon frère?" Gambit replied calmly as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "I sent you the address."

"Remy... it's bad enough the tip-off came from us without making an appearance as well," Henri said. "And you of all people should not be visiting the home of Pierre Thomas!"

"Indeed," Jean-Luc agreed. "If you must persist in random acts of charity, don't not involve the Assassins Guild."

"I have to do this, I can't do that," Gambit mocked as he took off his trench coat and sat down. "A fille's life was at stake."

"So was yours," Henri said and gestured to the two holes in Gambit's shirt. "You got shot?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah," Gambit said with a slight shrug. "By the way, I think Pierre Thomas has really let himself go since he retired from the field. He missed me _twice_ and it was practically point blank range. If he was the shooter at the restaurant, it's a wonder he even hit Rogue at all."

"How can you be so..." Henri began in frustration as he reached across and inspected the bullet holes. "Did you get hurt? I can't see any blood..."

"Henri," Gambit said patiently. "You don't really think I would visit the house of a homme whom I knew wanted to kill me without wearing a bullet proof vest did you?"

Henri sat back and shook his head.

"You're so... so cavalier about these things, Remy, I just don't know what to expect," he said.

"I'm a risk taker, don't mean I'm stupid too," Gambit replied. "The only ones who saw me were Avril, Pierre, some femme named Gwen, and two other guys I've never met before. Pierre and Gwen were still alive when I left –"

"Dammit Remy, you didn't kill anyone did you?" Henri exploded.

"Actually no," Gambit replied calmly. "If case you've forgotten, Avril's an Assassin... and a mutant too as things turn out. Some sort of light energy thing; took 'em out good. I got Avril out and told her only to mention me to Bella Donna. Say, I wonder... if Pierre was the shooter at the restaurant, maybe he wasn't aiming for Rogue at all. Maybe he was aiming for me and missed. I should have asked him when I had the chance. Oh well, he probably wouldn't have given me an honest answer anyway."

Eventually Gambit tired of Henri and Jean-Luc scolding him and took off, citing wanting to get out of the bullet proof vest. As the door shut behind Gambit, Henri shook his head and looked at Jean-Luc.

"Are you sure he's ready?" Henri asked.

Jean-Luc was quiet for a moment before answering: "He's older than I was, and he understands the basics. The rest will come with experience."

Henri made a noise like he didn't really believe it and Jean-Luc smiled at him.

"He has you too," Jean-Luc said. "More than what I had."

* * *

Avril held her hands out to Bella Donna and shook her head.

"I can't do it," Avril said in frustration. "I couldn't stop doing it before, and now I can't start."

Bella Donna held her daughter's hands sympathetically. She had heard that times of emotional stress could trigger the manifestation of mutant abilities, and Bella Donna could well imagine that the events of the day had been very stressful. It was all she could do to keep up the appearance of being calm even when she finally got Henri's call, telling her that her daughter had been abducted while she was busy deciding the fate of the Thomas clan.

"Don't worry, chére," Bella Donna said. "It'll come and go for a while, but it'll settle down eventually."

There had been a great deal of debate, but after the abduction of her daughter, very little complaint was given when Bella Donna dissolved the Thomas clan later that afternoon. All members had to be adopted by another clan – vouching for their integrity – or they were considered banished from the Guild, no exceptions. Bella Donna imagined it would be some time before final decisions were made. Jean-Bob and Gwen were not given the option for adoption.

"How do you know?" Avril asked sourly.

As for Pierre Thomas, his mental health was currently being assessed by a medical professional under Bella Donna's pay. It seemed that Pierre insisted that Gambit had been there to rescue Avril. Avril denied having seen him, and Gwen hadn't actually seen him after all, as her attention had been on Avril. Obviously this meant that the poor old man was hallucinating, and Bella Donna couldn't think of a better punishment than sending him to live in a dementia ward, (preferably with both his arms broken).

"Oh chére," Bella Donna said as she pulled one of her hands away from Avril's. "Where do you think you got it from?"

Avril stared as a ball of yellow plasma crackled in Bella Donna's hand.

* * *

Rogue was in the living room, phone to her ear and watching as Olivier played with a set of brightly coloured blocks on the floor.

"Hello, Rogue?" came Kurt's voice over the phone.

"Hi Kurt," Rogue replied. "Umm, how are you doing?"

"I'm well, thank you," Kurt replied. "And yourself?"

"Good, good," Rogue said. "Uhh, well, the reason why I'm calling is... well, I kinda ran into Mystique last week."

"I see."

"And I, umm, absorbed her."

"Okay," Kurt said patiently.

"And well... I kinda found out a few things. About us," Rogue said and then went on quickly: "I found out why she abandoned me, which I really don't want to go into right now, but... well, I also found out what happened to you, and I just... I mean I don't know if you ever got the chance to talk to her at the wedding or if she'll ever tell you if you ask next time you see each other, and I knew you wanted to know... Uhh, would you like me to tell you?"

Rogue felt a little awkward asking the question. She knew Kurt wanted to know - he'd even told her as much - but she also knew there are some things that are better heard from the source, rather than a third party. There was a long silence.

"I... yes," Kurt said finally, sounding a little nervous.

"Okay," Rogue said. "Well, Mystique was married at the time, sort of - she was using a different shape, you know, looking like a normal person? So her husband never knew who she really was. Anyway, when you were born, you were born blue and fuzzy and with a tail, and the doctor and her husband kind of freaked."

"Ahh," Kurt said ruefully. "Used to that reaction."

"Yeah, anyway, the exact sequence of events is a little fuzzy, but everyone figured you were a demon and Mystique ended up running off with you. Except they were chasing her and she was crossing this bridge and... well... you went over the edge. Mystique was able to escape by blending into the crowd, but yeah... She thought you died, which was why she never went after you and it wasn't until you showed up with us that she realised you were even alive."

Kurt nodded thoughtfully. He remembered talking to Mystique and asking her why she didn't just turn into a 'normal' person, and she had responded that they shouldn't have to. All of sudden those words seemed to take on a whole other meaning.

"Thank you," Kurt said, abruptly realising Rogue couldn't see him nod.

Rogue would never - could never - tell Kurt that Mystique had deliberately thrown him off the bridge. Kurt didn't need to know that, and Mystique had felt guilty about it ever since. Though, whether her decision was made out of consideration for Kurt or compassion for the woman she once knew as 'Mama', Rogue wasn't entirely certain.

"There's something else too," Rogue said. "We, ahh, we have a brother."

"Oh?"

"His name's Graydon Creed. He's Sabretooth's son," Rogue said, paused and then asked: "Do you know Sabretooth?"

"Only by reputation."

"Probably better that way," Rogue said dryly. "Anyway, they kinda dumped him once they realised he was human. Baseline human, that is."

"That's disappointing," Kurt said. "That they abandoned him, not that he was born human, I mean."

"Yeah, I feel his pain," Rogue said.

They chatted a little longer, moving to more pleasant topics before they hung up.

* * *

At eight and a half months, Olivier was, in Rogue's not-so-humble opinion, the handsomest man at the Guild Christmas party. This included his father, who was dressed in a Santa costume, handing out goodies to the little kids.

And Emil.

"Can I get a pwesent Santy?" asked Emil whilst on his knees. "Pwease? Pwetty, pwetty pwease?"

"I don't know," Gambit replied. "Have you been a good boy this year?"

"Uh huh, I've been very, very good," Emil insisted, putting on puppy dog eyes for good measure.

"Oh yeah? Well, that explains why you dropped off the Top Ten Thieves list completely, doesn't it?" Gambit teased him.

"That's 'cause I wanted to be a good boy this year 'cause I never got a pweasent from Santy in my whole life," Emil replied solemnly.

"Really? Not even one?"

"Nuh-uh."

"You wouldn't be lying to me, would you Emil?"

"We-ell... I got some presents from my parents pretending to be Santa."

"Oui," Gambit replied. "Seeing as how I'm only pretending too."

Emil gasped. "No you can't be! You're the real Santa Claus, I know it!"

Emil then proceeded to wail about how he knew Gambit was the real Santa Claus and that he wanted a present. His wife hissed at him to knock it off, while the two teenagers amongst his four daughters pretended not to know him. It was when Emil wrapped himself around Gambit's leg like a little kid wanting to be dragged along that Gambit finally gave in and handed him a little present. Emil then proceeded to run triumphantly around the room, holding the present high above his head and declaring that he succeeded in conning Santa Claus.

"This is why we had to separate Emil and Etienne and send, erm, I mean _encourage_ Etienne to go to France," Henri said as he sidled up to Gambit. "They were bad enough when we were teenagers."

"Heh," Gambit said with a smirk. "Remember that time they decided to crash Mercy's slumber party?"

Henri snickered.

"I'm convinced that's why he's never gotten a son," Henri said, grinning. "Penance."

Gambit laughed.

In Zoe's arms across the hall, Olivier started fussing and crying.

"Aww," said Zoe. "What's wrong, Oli?"

"It's late," Rogue said, reaching out for him. "Mr Crankypants is cranky."

Zoe laughed as she handed him over.

"Hey, is it just me," Zoe said. "Or does he have some white hair?"

"What?" Rogue asked, frowning.

"Just there," Zoe said, pointing to a few strands of white hair near Olivier's forehead. He'd only just started to grow hair.

"Huh," Rogue said upon inspection. "I wonder if it's just the light, or if it really is white. My streak shouldn't be hereditary."

Zoe shrugged. Olivier continued to wail.

"I'd better get him to bed," Rogue said with a sigh. "Congratulations again."

"Thanks."

Zoe had succeeded in making position three on the Top Ten list. Stephane was excited about finally getting off position ten and making position eight. Andre and Brad were at positions nine and ten respectively.

Claude, much to his disappointment, didn't make the Top Ten list at all. He hid it well though, at least from the people who didn't know him best.

* * *

Henri knocked gently on Claude's door, but didn't wait for him to say he could come in. Claude was sitting on the edge of his bed, his elbows on his knees, and staring at the floor.

"Claude?" he inquired. "You alright?"

"Fine," Claude replied sourly.

"Uh huh," Henri said, sitting down beside him. "Doesn't look like it to me."

For a minute, neither said anything.

"I'm sorry you didn't make the Top Ten," Henri said.

"Whatever," Claude replied sullenly.

"I know you really wanted to break the record for youngest person ever to make the list," Henri said, ignoring his attitude. "Do you want to know how close you were?"

"Oui - non. Non," Claude said. "If I was close, it'll suck. If I was far away, it'll feel like I did all that work for nothing."

"It's not an easy record to beat," Henri said. "You have a time limit and you're disadvantaged by lack of experience. And you're not the only one who's tried to break that record, Claude. And sometimes these new Master Thieves get a little overconfident and get caught. I'm glad to see you're not one of them."

Claude didn't know what to say, and so silence fell once more for a minute or so.

"I just... I really wanted to get it," Claude said woefully.

"I know. Don't let it get you down, Claude," Henri said patiently. "There are other records you can set or break, if you really want to. But holding a record doesn't automatically make you a good thief."

"Oncle Remy's set lots of records," Claude pointed out. "Grandpère's set records too. You've never set any and everyone knows Oncle Remy's a better thief than you."

"Hmph," Henri snorted. "Do you want to know why your Oncle Remy is a great thief?"

"Sure."

"His life depended on it."

Claude frowned.

"I'm quite serious," Henri went on. "All his life, his very survival has hinged on his skills as a thief. From the very beginning, as soon as he was capable, he was picking pockets –"

"I know he grew up on the streets," Claude said irritably.

"Non," Henri replied firmly. "You are _aware_ that he grew up on the streets. You don't _know_. Neither of us have any idea what it's like. We've always had good food, comfortable beds to sleep in, a roof over our heads, someone to take care of us when we're sick. We've never had to steal because the alternative was death. We've never had to eat refuse because the alternate was to starve. We've never slept in dumpsters or had to bandage wounds with dirty rags. If we even had rags. Have you ever tried to pick a pocket when you had the flu?"

"No..."

"Well, your oncle has. And it didn't stop after we adopted him either, Claude. He's been abducted, experimented on, had bounties put on his head, and every single time it was his skills as a thief that got him out," Henri said, paused and then added: "Well, except for that time he paid off Deadpool, but I guess you could argue that his skills as a thief was what got him the money to pay him off with. My point is, you and I learned to be thieves because it was family tradition and we wanted to. Remy's a thief because he needs to be. Need trumps want, I'm afraid, Claude. I'm not saying that you can't be a great thief too, someday, but you have to understand that what motivates you to improve is not the same thing that motivates Remy. And quite frankly, Claude, I hope it never is the same. I love mon frère, but sometimes I think it's a miracle he's even still alive."

Again, Claude didn't know what to say. He'd heard stories of course, but Gambit had been exiled for most of his life, so Claude had always seen his uncle as sort of a legend.

"'Sides," Henri said slyly, breaking the drawn out silence. "Just because your grandpère and your oncle are the King and the Crown Prince, doesn't mean they run the Guild."

Claude blinked and finally looked up to meet his father's eyes.

"But, Grandpère's the _Patriarch_," Claude said, confused. "He has to run the Guild."

"Non, he just gets the credit – and the blame – for running the Guild," Henri replied smugly.

"He makes all the decisions!" Claude insisted.

"And who do you think he comes to for about advice on those decisions?" Henri challenged him.

Claude paused. "You?"

"Oui," Henri said with a smirk. "No one knows what goes on in this Guild better than moi. Your grandpère and Oncle Remy wouldn't know what to do without me. Trust me, mon fils, if anyone's running this Guild, it's moi. And the best part about it? I will never get any glory for it."

"How is that the best part?" asked Claude.

"The sign of a truly awesome thief, Claude," Henri said, grinning with mischief, "is when the mark never knows he's been robbed."

* * *

Jean-Luc was tired.

He was in the council room. One son was on either side of his desk, and in front of him were the clan leaders, department heads, ministers and everyone else who could get in. Mercy and Rogue were off to the side with Claude and Lucian. Olivier was the only LeBeau not there, under the care of Tante Mattie.

It was two days after the Guild Christmas party, and a good day to make announcements as everyone would be over their hangovers but no one would have left yet. The Christmas season was generally a pretty good season for stealing, however, and a lot of them would be departing soon.

Henri knew what was coming, of course. Henri always knew what was coming. They hadn't told Gambit anything, but he was hardly stupid; Jean-Luc suspected he knew what was in the wind the moment he found out that there was to be a big announcement today.

Jean-Luc gave Henri a slight nod, and Henri called for everyone's attention. The room fell silent and Jean-Luc slowly stood to his feet.

"Mes filles et fils," he said. "I have been the leader of this Guild for a long time. Perhaps... longer than I should have."

Rogue caught her breath.

"I have called you all here today, because you're ma famille," Jean-Luc went on, "and I want you all to be the first to know that I'm retiring."

Jean-Luc smiled as the murmuring began and he was amused by the number of glances towards Gambit.

"Retiring, today."

Gambit shot Jean-Luc a startled look, and Jean-Luc was rather pleased with his reaction.

"Henri, if you wouldn't mind..." Jean-Luc said, but he needn't have; Henri was already there with the necessary papers.

Papers which Gambit eyed with a look of panic on his face.

Jean-Luc took one step to the side – still behind the desk – and then gestured to Gambit to join him. Gambit took a deep breath and his expression turned into one of composure. Jean-Luc knew Gambit was still freaking out on the inside, however.

Henri led his father and brother through the handing over ceremony. Claude had a silly grin on his face that Mercy couldn't quite read, but she decided she'd figure it out later. Rogue found the ceremony reminiscent of the one she went through with Bella Donna almost two years ago.

Then Jean-Luc stepped away from the desk, leaving Gambit on his own behind it. Jean-Luc was more than happy to sit down again while Henri swore Gambit into his new position. Since his back was to everyone, Henri was free to offer 'encouragement' in the form of silly grins and winks.

Finally the council members all walked past the papers, verifying in their own way the signatures on the papers.

"We are satisfied?" Henri asked the councillors, waited a moment and then went on when there was no negative reply: "Then may I present to you, Remy 'Gambit' LeBeau, Patriarch of the Guild of Thieves."

"Long live the king!" Emil yelled over the applause that followed.

Gambit laughed despite himself.

* * *

**AN: **Just the epilogue to go.

Also, I meant to mention this earlier, but Gambit really did pay off Deadpool in the comics. #17 and #18 of "Gambit" series 3. Actually if you can find the back issues, I recommend "Gambit" series 3 in general for any big Gambit fans. It does all the prophecy and uniting the Guild stuff, and Gambit with his full powers (and not being able to control them). It's very cool. I got a lot of my comic canon material for this story from that series.


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue/Teaser**

Rogue closed the door of their luxurious hotel room and Gambit rolled their bags against the wall.

"Well," said Rogue, "it's official: We're finally on our honeymoon."

Gambit laughed.

"Oui," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Took us long enough, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Rogue replied with a grin, "and all so _generous_ of your brother to let us go so soon after your appointment to Patriarch."

"Argh, don't remind me," Gambit said. "It was all I could do to stop from throwing myself on the floor and screaming 'I don't wanna be Patriarch! You can't make me!'"

Rogue giggled and Gambit grinned at her.

"Just imagine, chére, won't be long before Oli starts throwing tantrums..." he teased her.

"When he does, I'll know who to blame," Rogue replied evenly.

Gambit chuckled.

"So," Rogue went on as she leaned against the wall. "Didja wanna go out and sight-see?"

"Hmm," Gambit considered as he ran his eyes over her. "I think I'd rather stay here and 'sight-see'."

"Oh really?' she replied with a smirk.

"Oui," he said, smiling slyly. "In fact, given that this _is_ our honeymoon, I think you'll be lucky if we leave the hotel at all."

"I thought you wanted to do the wine tour?" Rogue asked, sauntering over to him.

"It can wait," Gambit replied as he put his hands on her hips and pulled her over. "Right now I want to make wild, passionate, unbridled love to my wife."

"Well," she said as she ran her hands up his arms, "maybe not 'unbridled'. We don't want to make Oli a big brother just yet."

"Aww," said Gambit, laying back and pulling Rogue down on top of him. "Why not, chére?"

"Well, for one thing," she said dryly. "I've only just started to get back into shape, and think that trying to do the infrared beam obstacle course while pregnant might just be a tad difficult."

"But just think, chére," he teased. "You could set a record for first person ever to pass the test while sporting a bump."

"I don't think so."

"I set a record for the first person ever to do it blindfolded," he said, grinning.

"Because you could, right?" Rogue asked cynically.

"Actually, certain people - who shall remain nameless, but you can probably guess who they are - decided to insinuate that because I could see the infrared spectrum that I wasn't as good as they were."

"Ahh," Rogue said, understanding instantly. "So of course, you took that as a challenge to show them up."

"_'They'_ should have known me better by then," Gambit said.

"Maybe that was the idea. Besides,' she went on, changing the subject back to the original topic, "Oli's only nine months old. I think I'd like to wait a bit before having another child."

"Okay," he replied agreeably.

Rogue raised an eyebrow.

"Since when are you so eager to have more kids?" she asked.

"Well," he said after a moment's contemplation, which apparently required repeatedly kissing Rogue's neck in order to be effective; "I am and I'm not. On the one hand, I'd like to get all the newborn and toddler years over and done with. On the other hand, I'm not really sure trying to look after more than one newborn or toddler at a time is really a good idea."

Rogue laughed.

"I'm thinking of putting a cot and a playpen in mon père's... in _my _office," Gambit went on, thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah?"

"Well, I figure that'll give me more time to spend with Oli, and you won't have to ask Mercy or Tante Mattie to look after him every time you want to do some training or a job or whatever. Not that I imagine they mind _that_ much, but they have their own lives too."

"I think it's a nice idea," Rogue said and she planted a kiss on his nose. "And I'll pretend this isn't all part of a scheme to say things like 'Oh I'm sorry, I have to change Oli's diaper, can you do it?' to Henri."

Gambit laughed.

"I was also thinking -" he began.

"I notice you didn't deny it."

"- about our house outside the city. I thought it might be a good idea, now that all the silliness with the Assassins Guild is over, for us to stay there on the weekends. Maybe not every weekend, but at least once a month, just for the change of scenery."

Rogue nodded.

"I like that," she said. "Now, less talk, more tongue."

Gambit saluted. "Oui madame."

He'd just started complying with his wife's wishes when his phone started ringing. He ignored it.

"Not going to get that?" Rogue asked when she found a moment to come up for air.

"Non, it's probably just Henri anyway," Gambit replied. "Remind me to turn it off."

Rogue didn't have a chance to laugh before his lips captured hers once more. The phone stopped ringing not long thereafter.

_"Bonjour, you have reached Gambit's voicemail. If this is Emil or Etienne, joke's over guys, if you don't lay off the 'king' quips I'm going to appoint you both 'court jesters'. If it's anyone else, leave a message, and I might even get back to you."_

"Hi Remy, this is Storm. I can't believe I'm saying this but... I need to hire the Thieves Guild."

* * *

**End!**

This was so much fun to write. I think I say that about all my stories... ahem, hehe.

Anyway, I hope you guys all enjoyed it. A big thanks as always to everyone who reviewed; you've been most encouraging.

Another big thanks to Lizzieturbo for her beta work. Go read her story "Normal" if you haven't already. It's awesome.

The next story in this series will come out when I figure out why on earth the X-men would hire the Thieves Guild. That premise alone is one big plot hole. Fun, isn't it? :-D

There's no ETA on when the next chapter fic will be coming out. I'm working on a couple of stories at the moment, but only the muses know which one will get finished first, haha.


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